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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18b3239 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64166 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64166) diff --git a/old/64166-0.txt b/old/64166-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c69cafe..0000000 --- a/old/64166-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6627 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, What I Saw in Berlin and Other European -capitals During Wartime, by Piermarini - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: What I Saw in Berlin and Other European capitals During Wartime - - -Author: Piermarini - - - -Release Date: December 29, 2020 [eBook #64166] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT I SAW IN BERLIN AND OTHER -EUROPEAN CAPITALS DURING WARTIME*** - - -E-text prepared by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/whatisawinberlin00pieruoft - - - - - -WHAT I SAW IN BERLIN - - -WHAT I SAW IN BERLIN AND OTHER -EUROPEAN CAPITALS DURING WARTIME - -by - -"PIERMARINI" - - - - - - -London -Eveleigh Nash -1915 - - - - -NOTE - - -Several chapters of this book are reprinted from the _Evening News_ -(London), to the Proprietors and Editor of which paper the author owes -his grateful thanks for the permission to include them here. - - - - -CONTENTS - - PAGE -INTRODUCTORY 1 - - -CHAPTER I - -MY FIRST WAR-TIME JOURNEY TO BERLIN 11 - - -CHAPTER II - -POTSDAM AND HAMBURG 55 - - -CHAPTER III - -CONSTANTINOPLE 75 - - -CHAPTER IV - -BULGARIA AND GREECE 121 - - -CHAPTER V - -MY SECOND WAR-TIME VISIT TO BERLIN 142 - - -CHAPTER VI - -VIENNA 184 - - -CHAPTER VII - -SWITZERLAND 196 - - -CHAPTER VIII - -ITALY 205 - - -CHAPTER IX - -FRANCE 221 - - -CHAPTER X - -HOLLAND 240 - - -CHAPTER XI - -ANTWERP--THE DEAD CITIES OF BRABANT 259 - - -CHAPTER XII - -BRUSSELS, TOURNAI, AND THE GERMAN FRONT 284 - - - - -WHAT I SAW IN BERLIN - -AND OTHER EUROPEAN CAPITALS - - - - -INTRODUCTORY - - -The golden days of the war correspondents have long since passed away; -the unlimited freedom allowed to newspaper correspondents during the -1870 war, the fact that Germany could know every move, every change -of front, even the exact figures of the different contingents of -troops, by the simple method of getting the Paris papers, and the many -instances during both the Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese Wars, in -which supposed war correspondents turned out to be dangerous spies, -have made the commanders of the fighting armies extremely careful; and -the war correspondent is kept so far from the firing-line that even if -he manages to get near to the front, he is allowed to see practically -nothing, and his report is based only on what he can get out of -soldiers back from the line of fire. - -Moreover, the enormously wide front of the modern battlefield makes it -absolutely impossible for the war correspondent to gain anything like -an exact idea of what is going on. His work is essentially a work of -analysis, analysis of the section in which he moves, but the synthesis -of the whole movement is bound to escape his observation. - -But though war is undoubtedly decided on the battlefield, it is no less -certainly reflected in the life of the capitals of the belligerent -nations. As long as hope, money, food, fresh supplies of men and -ammunition are forthcoming, a nation retains a normal appearance; but a -reverse on the battlefield is almost immediately transmitted throughout -the country. Especially in the large towns, where bad news always -manages to come through quickly, one can detect, from a thousand and -one signs, to what degree the population has been affected. - -We have only to remember how London and Paris looked in September last, -and to compare the practically "Business as usual" life of to-day, to -appreciate what a sensitive thermometer is the population of a great -city. - -The task I have essayed during the last five months has been to look -at these thermometers with the eye of a doctor--sometimes anxious, -sometimes unsympathetic, but always, I trust, impartial. The great -capitals of Europe have been the aim of my journeys. - -Upon my desk lies a cheap war-map cut from a daily paper. It is -scribbled all over with blue pencil marks--marks which represent my -wanderings across Europe since the beginning of the war. The atlas I -have just consulted tells me I have travelled fifteen thousand miles; -fifteen thousand miles of travel, during which time I met continuously -new people, people of different temperaments, different nationalities, -different religions; but all interested in one subject, and talking -about one subject only--the war. - -I have visited eight large capitals of European States, lived their -lives, felt the intense wave of their sympathies, hates, sorrows, and -joys, strong, of course, in a terrible crisis like the present. - -From London to Paris, from Berlin to Amsterdam, from Vienna to -Brussels, from Rome to Athens and Constantinople, all the European -capitals show more or less the effects of the war. Curiously enough, -Rome, Amsterdam, and Athens--capitals of States as yet neutral--are -among the cities most altered, while least changes are to be seen in -the town which has given to the war almost the whole of her adult -sons--Berlin. - -When one wishes to obtain, during a short visit, as true and as many -impressions as possible of a town, the best thing to do is to sit in -a café where the literary-journalistic element resorts. In the large -room of the Café Royal in London, or under the deer-heads of the Bauer -in Berlin, on the horrid yellow velvet sofas of Aragno in Rome, or on -the verandah of the Ianni in Constantinople, the people talk freely. -In such places the opinions of the different classes are reduced to a -common denomination--public opinion; tongues wag more freely, loosened -by the favourite drink, be it whisky and soda, beer, coffee, or sherbet. - -London is decidedly optimistic; there is certainly a little -apprehension on the score of Zeppelins, and the probability of a -lengthy war; but every Briton _knows_ that England will ultimately come -out on top. - -Amsterdam is, at the present moment, the town of half words and of -compromises of all kinds. "We want to please England, our friends, but -we wish to avoid trouble with Germany ..." is a sentence one often -hears there. - -Paris has given all that she had--her children, her money, and her -commerce. She is waiting and hoping, for the memories of 1870 are still -fresh. - -But Berlin--Berlin is full of astonishment. She was certain that the -war would be over and Paris taken in less than a month. She does not -yet admit that the campaign is going badly, but she is very much -surprised that her carefully prepared military machine has not worked -perfectly. - -Rome watches the war with almost morbid interest, as a woman of -Madrid watches a bull-fight. She is aching to do something; she wants -to follow the call of her strong sympathies, of her still stronger -hates, and to break off the neutrality her diplomats have imposed upon -her. Everywhere a word of hope is repeated, full of promise and of -menace--"To Trieste, soon!" - -Athens is waking to something of her old spirit now heroic times have -come again. She is confident in her clever diplomats, and already -regards Southern Albania as an essential part of Greece. - -Vienna has long since begun to feel the grip of famine, defeat, and, -what is worse, political dissolution. With her shops closed, her -darkness, her beggars with the real accent of hunger in their tones, -the town is even more sad than Brussels, that capital which is no -longer a capital, that beautiful city which had to shelter in her best -palaces all the bureaucrats and military cohorts of the invaders, but -which still has ideals and a beloved king, and looks full of hope at -her sons and her friends fighting in the near west. Brussels waits the -day of resurrection. - -As for Constantinople, the town is displaying truly Oriental fatalism. -"The Germans took the trouble to give us money, to organise our army, -to augment our navy, and we hope that everything goes well. If not--the -sky will be blue all the same, the figs will ripen at the right season -as they did before, the world will not have changed." - -Thus might speak the Turk if he troubled himself to speak at all: but -he is silent. All the talking there is done by the Germans. - -A curiosity of the war is the way the street crowds have altered in -composition in the different capitals. - -In London there are the refugees, dressed in clothes of all shapes, -colours, and dimensions, the special constables, and the crowds of -recruits. In Paris--patriotic Paris--one meets many crippled people, -for almost every other man not wearing a uniform has a physical -deformity. In the Paris underground, at the Metropolitan Railway -Station, a new figure, a sympathetic and admirable figure, has -appeared: the woman who works while her husband is at the front. Often -she has babies clinging to her skirt as she pierces your railway ticket. - -Brussels is overrun by German uniforms; Vienna by refugees from -Galicia; Rome by continuous pro-war demonstrations; Constantinople by -any amount of Germans, and also by a curious class of Turco-German -official who is, for the moment, the real master of the situation. - -My journeys will be found in this book in their chronological order, -but before I start the record of my war-time travels I should like to -set down a conversation I had at Craig-Avon, near Belfast, in April, -1914. - -One of the officers of the Ulster Army had just taken me round the camp -and shown me everything: the new uniforms, the guns, the commissariat -and sanitary arrangements, the men at drill and at play. - -We were sitting in the lofty winter-garden of Craig-Avon, and beside -our charming host--Captain Craig--Sir Edward Carson, the Archbishop of -Belfast, and a few officers of H.M.S. _Pathfinder_, which was anchored -off Carrickfergus, were present. - -We talked about the situation, and about the organisation of the new -troops, and I remember asking Sir Edward Carson the question, "Do you -think all this preparation indispensable? Do you think there will ever -be any actual fighting?" - -"There will be, if we cannot obtain what we want without fighting," -came the answer. "In any case, we are training here some jolly good -troops, and it is always better for a nation to have trained than -untrained men. England will know where to find a few thousand good -soldiers in case of need," he concluded smiling. - -Then a young officer, wearing the blue naval uniform, said in a light -voice, probably for the sake of saying something, "And she will -probably need them sooner than any of us think." - -The old tradition that the gift of prophecy brings misfortune to the -prophet, as it did to the unfortunate Cassandra, has been fulfilled. -The young officer went down with his ship, the _Pathfinder_, without -the consolation even of having fought for his country. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -MY FIRST WAR-TIME JOURNEY TO BERLIN - - -Since the war broke out I have visited Berlin twice; the first time at -the beginning of October, the second at the end of December, 1914. It -was my intention to compare in these pages the different impressions I -received in the German capital during my two visits, the second made -less than three months after the first; but now I see that this would -almost completely destroy the sensation of sincerity and freshness, -realised only when one is able to write immediately after having -visited a country. - -My readers will easily see how the last three months have changed the -German capital, by reading after this chapter the one entitled "My -Second War-time Journey to Berlin." - -The following journal has been written partly on board the small -steamer which brought me from Amsterdam back to England, and partly -immediately after my return to Great Britain. - - * * * - -_October 10th._ - -"Your nationality?" - -"Italian." - -"Where do you come from?" - -"Berlin." - -The fatherly-looking Custom House officer who was examining our -passports dropped his glasses and looked at me in astonishment. "And -what were you doing in Berlin?" he asked, after a moment's pause. - -"Just a pleasure trip," was the answer, which perhaps did not satisfy -him completely. - -He looked again at the passport, which was in perfect order, at the -half-a-dozen seals, signatures, and Consulate stencils, Italian, -Dutch, and German, which have occupied, during the last two weeks -almost all the room left for the purpose on the dirty-looking, official -piece of paper, and concluded philosophically, giving it back to me: -"After all, some folk have got curious hobbies." - -Well, I really don't know if to go to Berlin from England in war time -just to know what's going on is a curious hobby or not. But, when -two weeks ago I read in some London newspaper wonderful stories of -starvation and symptoms of panic in the German capital, and in some -others that things in Berlin were going on just as usual, I thought the -only way to know the truth about it was to go there myself. - -I was warned that I should get into trouble, be arrested, kept -prisoner, treated as a spy, etc., and the few persons who knew of my -journey thought it was a very foolish thing to do. As a matter of fact, -the trip was carried out without much difficulty. - -Here is a summary of it: three days from London to Berlin (arrested -once at Goch, a German frontier town, and once at Hanover); three -days in Berlin (had to report to the police every morning and was -arrested twice); three days from Berlin to Amsterdam, the only exciting -diversion being a short arrest at Stendal. I would not exactly -recommend an elderly lady to leave her easy chair in her Kensington -sitting-room to start off on such a journey. But I enjoyed every moment -of the trip. - -"What is then the present condition of Berlin? Did you find out the -truth about what's going on there?" Everybody keeps asking me these -questions. - -The answer cannot be given in a few words. Berlin, on the surface, is -as usual; the life did not appear to me at first sight much different -from what I saw during my last visit four years ago. London has changed -her habits more on account of the war than Berlin. - -The theatres in the German capital are mostly open, the crowds in the -street do not look much different from the peace-time crowds, the -food-stuff prices are very little higher than usual. The women driving -taxi-cabs, the starving queue outside the butchers' shops in the -morning, and the potatoes sold at high price--these exist only in the -dreams of newspaper correspondents. - -Everything seems pretty normal. The enthusiasm for the Emperor, for the -Army, for the Fatherland is as strong as ever. The confidence of the -people, fed on false news, on fantastic reports, on gigantic illusions, -is unbounded. These people have a keen relish and delight in the fact, -as they admit at once, that the whole world is against them; they -seem to be proud of their isolation and despise infinitely their only -allies, the Austrians. - -One hears in the street people talking like this: "We are bound to win; -it is fatal and it is ridiculous to see a few decrepit nations trying -to stop God's Will," or "We are the only race of dictators; we will -have the whole world at our feet and impose our laws on every nation"; -and very often this more simple and utilitarian, "When I will be able -to get a concession for a maize plantation in Algeria ..." or "When, -next year, we shall start ostrich farming in South Africa," ... etc. - -Most of the people I met in Berlin willingly admitted that the methods -of war of their troops in Belgium and France were very wrong, but they -invariably concluded: "If this is the only way to give Germany her -definite position of queen of the world, you perfectly understand that -the life of a few thousand men, the pillage of a few cities, the tears -of a few women, cannot be an obstacle worth considering." - -They don't admit for a moment that success will perhaps not crown and, -to a certain extent, justify their deeds; they don't consider the -possibility of disaster. If they have the worst of the struggle it will -certainly not be for lack of self-confidence. - -Only the military circles seem to realise fully how terribly strong is -the enemy Germany is fighting, and how very small are her chances in -the long run. But they keep their sentiments and feelings as secret as -possible, and, helped by their wonderfully organised Press, they manage -to keep alive the Berlin public's illusions. - -During my short stay in Berlin, thanks to a few acquaintances in the -military world and to a fair knowledge of the German language, I -managed to mix with different classes of people, from the man in the -street to the officers of the cavalry regiment still in Berlin for -the drill of the 1914-15 recruits; from a very well-known writer on -military science to the working people unemployed on account of the war -crisis. - - * * * - -At about nine o'clock on the morning after my arrival I woke up still -tired after a late night in the gayest circles of Berlin. I had been -to one of the numerous cabarets, which are the equivalent in Berlin of -the London night club. The gay life of the German capital was being -carried on just as in peace time. Students, officers, viveurs, and -the indispensable feminine element, among which the French was, as -usual, much in evidence (Dumas used to say, "Le demi-monde n'a pas de -patrie!"), were crowding into the large, brightly-lighted rococo room, -trying hard to dance one-steps and maxixes with the latest Paris or -London swing. - -I was looking at my Baedeker map, trying to refresh my memory of Berlin -topography, when the waiter shouted at the door, "Ein Herr wünscht -Sie zu sprechen!" I did not know who the early visitor could be, so -I finished dressing as quickly as possible, and went out into the -corridor. - -A man was standing there waiting for me; he stepped in without saying -a word, and, when in the room, asked me where I came from and what my -business was in Berlin. I showed him my passport. He said he would see -to that afterwards; meanwhile he had to examine my luggage. - -The man, I knew later on, was a police-inspector; he looked at all I -had with me, and copied into a pocket-book my address and the address -of my tailor, which he discovered on a small piece of white silk -inside the breast pocket of one of my jackets. He then took possession -of a few very innocent papers and letters, and looked underneath the -lining of my hat, opened the alarm clock to see if something was -concealed in the case, and was very much puzzled by a black box, which -he opened most carefully, with the result that he found a manicure set. - -Then he asked me to follow him to the police station. A taxi was -waiting, and we reached the sombre building after a long drive. There I -had to undergo a second cross-examination. I was asked to give all the -references I could in Berlin, and after three hours' detention, I was -finally released, having promised to report myself every morning to the -police-station, and not to leave the Kaiserhof Hotel without letting -them know about it. - -I must say that the Police Commissair behaved quite decently, and -apologised for the trouble he was forced to give me. He even offered me -a bad cigar and a worse cup of coffee, which I couldn't refuse, and -for which I was certainly more annoyed with him than for the arrest -itself. - -I stepped out of the decrepit building and found myself in a narrow, -tortuous street of old Berlin, without the slightest idea of the -direction I had to go to reach the modern part of the city. - -After some wandering in narrow streets and irregular squares, which -reminded me of some old Flemish town much more than of modern Berlin, I -was lucky enough to find a taxi to drive to the post office. I began to -ring up some of my old friends in Berlin. In four cases I was unlucky; -three were at the front; one had gone to America last year, and though -called to arms could not, or did not, trouble to come back. My fifth -call was for a lieutenant friend in a cavalry regiment. I had not seen -him for years. His sister answered the call, and when I asked for Otto -she said, "Why, don't you know he is in hospital? He has been wounded -in Belgium, and has been back over five weeks now." - -She offered to take me to see him in an hour's time, and so it was that -I managed to get into a German military hospital. I lunched in a large -restaurant, in which the places of the waiters called to the colours -had been taken by Kellnerinnen. To judge from the food I had the cook's -place must have been taken by a shoemaker. - -I was rather surprised to find that the hospital was a luxurious -private house. I learned afterwards that the proprietor, a wealthy -officer, had equipped it as an emergency nursing home for officers, -and offered it to the Government. There was no difficulty in being -admitted, as my friend was quite out of danger, his wounds being a -light one in the face and a serious one in the knee-cap. The little -white camp beds were arranged in two lines on both sides of a large -sitting-room. The nurses were ladies of the best Berlin society, and -seemed to add to the skill of a perfect nurse the tactful ways of a -lady of quality. - -After the natural surprise of my friend at our meeting in such -extraordinary circumstances, he told me how he had been wounded at the -very beginning of the campaign, practically without being able to do -any fighting. He said that the Germans only realised that they would -have to fight in Belgium when they were already on Belgian soil. The -cavalry, marching in front without any artillery support, received -the most serious shock. The German Government was so sure that the -intimidation of Belgium would be successful that the siege guns had -been sent in the direction of the French frontier. - -I asked him what he thought of the position of his country at the -present moment. He smiled sadly and said: - -"Here, in the hospital, we only know what the newspapers say; and, -of course, they are very optimistic. We officers know perfectly what -our forces and the forces of our enemies are. It is certain that we -are going to struggle to the very last. You know how I, personally, -love France; but, of course, I will go to fight again as soon as I am -better--if I am ever in condition to fight." - -He said this sadly, showing me his leg, which perhaps will be crippled -for ever. And he concluded in French, the language we used to speak -at a time we both thought an officer was only a kind of sportsman who -wore a uniform. "Enfin même si c'est un suicide il faut l'faire et -on va l'faire!" He gave me some introductions to officers still in -Berlin, and we parted; our last word was au revoir.... Where and when -we shall meet again, what our country will be then, the blood of how -many thousand men will be wasted before that day is in the hands of a -mysterious future. - - * * * - -I devoted the rest of my afternoon to a long walk through the town. - -Processions of unemployed like we used to see during the great coal -strike in some cities in the North of England were coming from the east -part of the town. Women and children were in very large numbers, but -there was also any number of men, old, crippled, or somehow unfit for -military service. Unemployment is really the most striking symptom of -the war in Berlin. - -Many manufacturers have had to stop their works owing to the lack of -raw material. The wool, silk, leather, and cotton industries are almost -completely paralysed. Other works have been stopped because Germany -cannot get any fuel. All the reserves of coal have been taken up by the -Government for naval and military purposes. Also the toy, furnishing, -and fancy trades have had to be completely stopped, as there are no -customers for such goods. - -Under the patronage of Kronprinzessin Cecilie, who, by the way, is -very popular during this war, a movement has been started to assist -the unemployed. But the crowd of out-of-works seems to increase daily, -and the twenty thousand free dinners given away every afternoon by the -relief committee don't seem enough for the innocent victims of the war. - -Down the endless Friedrichstrasse I saw a company of a few hundred boys -still in civilian clothes, marching stiffly, and trying to keep the -compass-like Prussian step. Officers and sergeants in uniform were with -them. Some of the recruits did not look more than fifteen or sixteen. -Most of them, with large gold or tortoiseshell spectacles, represented -the classical type of the German Gymnasium and Lyceum. - -The crowd cheered the boys, and they marched away as stiff as possible, -without even turning their eyes to the people in the street. An old man -explained to me that they were boys a few months short of seventeen, -who want to be perfectly ready when, in February, they will be accepted -in the army as volunteers. There are apparently over fifty thousand -boys of this class, who intend to volunteer as soon as the military -authorities will allow them to do so. - -To get out of the Sunday crowd I walked along the Spree. Here is one of -the largest barracks in Berlin. I wonder how many men of the Kaiser -Alexander Garde Grenadiers will come back to their beautiful home. It -seems to have been one of the regiments most severely cut up in France -lately. - -On a large poster at the corner of Eberts-Brücke, amongst many -_affiches_ of music-halls, boot polish, and tooth paste, I read the -announcement of a special evening service and sermon at the cathedral -at five o'clock. - -I walked down to the Lustgarten, just in time for the service. - -The large church was full of people. The crowd of over two thousand -perhaps was chiefly composed of women and old men. I noticed that an -extraordinary number were in mourning. - -The dark crowd contrasted curiously with the aggressive bright gold of -the dome lighted by a number of electric lamps. - -The minister began his sermon. As I was right at the back of the church -I missed at first most of his words, but, little by little, I began to -understand better. - -"We don't know how many of our sons have lost their lives up to now," -he said, "but be sure that they have found the way which leads straight -to eternal happiness. He who dies in war for his country and for the -Kaiser is certain of the sight of God. The Lord has put a sword in the -hands of our Kaiser. He knows where and how to strike in this war. -Glory on our sons who have died; they died like heroes, all of them, -and every mother, every sister, every wife, must be proud to have lost -the man they love in such a noble way. Be sure that our soldiers have -never done anything less than noble. They are fighting in a treacherous -country, but they are fighting for a right, holy cause, and they are -bound to win." - -I felt like shouting at him: "Malines, Rheims, Louvaine, Termonde! -What do you say of these? Is that the way the favourites of God should -fight! Is that the way to fight for civilisation?" - -I could not stand it any more, and walked out. In front of me was the -Schloss-Brücke, with huge groups illustrating the education, life, and -glorification of the warrior. This is one of the many proofs of how -Germany has been preparing her children for war for generations and -generations. I thought of the sentence, "The war into which we have -been driven," I had just heard from the priest's lips, and I wondered -if that man of God, in the House of God, was lying, knowing that he -did so, or if he, too, was simply consumed utterly by the mad wave of -military exaltation which seemed to have covered the whole of Germany. - - * * * - -Sitting round a large corner table at the Café Fürstenhof with huge -glasses of beer in front of us and a good after-dinner cigar, the -reticence of the two officers who were in my company melted away -slowly. Even the latest German atrocities will not make me deny the -wonderful convivial effect of a large glass of blonde cervogie. - -"Spies!" said one of the two young fellows, who looked like bursting -out of his tight green-grey tunic every time he laughed. "Why should -we worry about spies? All the men and women, especially women, who were -supposed to be spying for Russia in Germany and Austria were playing a -double game. - -"Russia was persuaded they were spying for her, and they were spying -for us instead. A few useless and fantastic reports sent to St. -Petersburg were good enough to put them in the confidence of generals -and archdukes, and so they could get for us very important secrets. -France never had a proper secret service worth talking about, and the -few attempts of England in this direction were so clumsily done that -it was really pathetic to see how the poor chaps got into trouble for -sending home information and plans they could easily have copied from -railway maps and tourist books. - -"We are the only nation on earth who know how to organise a secret -service!" - -"You seem most proud of your spies," I remarked. - -"Spies is a very ridiculous word; Napoleon used to have spies; we have -informants. They mix with all classes of society; they manage to get -everywhere, from the Royal Palace to the small country shop, from the -barracks canteen to the Premier's house. - -"Be certain that nine-tenths of those who have been arrested as our -emissaries in France, England, and Russia, have nothing to do with it, -and that most of the real ones are still doing their job, and doing it -jolly well too. - -"We know everything that happens in England," he continued, after -swallowing half his glass of beer. "We know the exact number and -destination of the troops sent from Britain to the Continent; we know -of everyone who goes in or out of England, and also of his business and -of his intentions." - -"Oh, do you?" I could not help exclaiming, and I nearly burst out -laughing. - -"Yes, we do," he continued with unshakable assurance. "For instance, we -know that Lord Kitchener is struggling to raise his Army; that London -is in darkness for fear of the Zeppelins; that the King and the Royal -Family have left Buckingham Palace for a small private house, afraid of -bomb-dropping. - -"It is really very childish of the British authorities to think that we -shall send a lonely airship to drop a few bombs on London. They would -not do much harm, and they would produce a panic, with the result that -Kitchener would, perhaps, get on better with his recruiting. We know -perfectly the Englishmen and their quiet nature. They are still asleep -and it would be very foolish of us to wake them up." - -The night was wonderfully fine; the Tiergarten, which we reached in a -few minutes, was full of light, and of couples of lovers. - -We walked up the Sieges Allee, spoiled by a childish decorative scheme -of the Kaiser himself, with a multitude of marble benches and statues, -and we reached the Königs Platz. "Those are the men we need now. They -were the right men in the right place," exclaimed one of my companions, -pointing to the statues of Bismarck and Moltke at the two ends of the -square. - -"Yes, but thank the Lord you don't have them," was my mental answer. - - * * * - -A military band wakes me up with the eternal sound of "Deutschland, -Deutschland über alles," and does not leave me for a second the -illusion of being in a friendly town. - -The clumsy furniture of my large bedroom at the Kaiserhof Hotel, and -the sight of the intensely German-looking front of the house which -bounds my horizon at the other side of the Wilhelmplatz, make me -realise that I am in Berlin, right in the heart of the great monster -who is lacerating Europe with his steel talons from east to west. - -I am seized by a sort of fever. I want to see straight away how the war -has changed these Germans, among whom I have many friends, in peace -time excellent organisers of commercial enterprises as merchants, as -scientists, even as soldiers, but soldiers whose chivalry, as I thought -then, seemed to transcend the natural grimness of the soldier. - -I dress as quickly as possible. Leaving the hotel, I walk right along -the Wilhelmstrasse, full of busy people. I am now in Unter den Linden. - -Flags are hanging from every balcony; others wave at the top of the -high masts which crown the gigantic commercial buildings; many shops -display draperies with the national colours and the clawed black eagle -is everywhere--on the cap of the messenger boy and at the breast of -the lady, on the banner which dominates the corner turret of the Bauer -Café, and on the silk handkerchiefs in the shop windows. - -The Austrian colours are completely ignored. I have not seen a single -Austrian flag during the whole of my stay in Berlin, and it is really -curious the Olympic indifference the Prussians affect towards their -ally--Germany's only friend. - -A German officer whom I met later on declared to me candidly that he -considered that the Austrians as allies were a drawback rather than a -help. - -Companies of soldiers come out from Luisenstrasse following the drums; -other troops march along the Charlottenburg Chaussée through the -Brandenburger Tor, on which, gilded by rays of the sun, is the Quadriga -of Victory, by G. Schadov. I recollect that exactly a hundred years -ago, in 1814, the heavy brass group was taken back to Berlin from Paris -after seven years at the top of the arch of the Champ Elysées. How soon -before its next trip to Paris? - -Near one of the side colonnades a gentleman standing on a chair shouts -the latest war news through a megaphone to a crowd of listeners. -Everybody is anxious for news of Antwerp, because I understood it was -clearly realised when that city capitulated or was taken by the Germans -the besieging army would be released. Then on to Paris! - -At the Pariser Platz I see wounded officers being taken into the large -private houses which are used as Red Cross hospitals, and a large crowd -receives them with sympathetic cheers. - -One of the most remarkable things in Berlin is the number of private -houses, hotels, and museums turned into hospitals; and the conclusion -I came to is that the British estimates of the number of German -casualties are not at all exaggerated. Berlin is a city of wounded -and distressed, gay as it is on the surface; only the authorities are -careful to keep this fact as dark as possible. No official list of dead -and wounded is issued, and the families are generally told by means of -printed letters that Hans or Fritz will not come back. - -Some papers started at the beginning of the war to give lists of dead -officers and men, which they drew up by means of private inquiry. Now -this has been stopped, and only now and again do the papers talk of the -glorious death of Captain or Lieutenant So-and-so. - -The censorship in Berlin is much more strict than in London. Some -newspapers have disappeared; some have reduced their dimensions; -others, that tried to be coherent with their past political ideas, -have been boycotted even by the section of the public which used -formerly to support them. - -For instance, to read _Vorwaerts_ in public in Berlin is an action -which requires a certain amount of heroism. The newspaper which in the -last two months has been suppressed three times by the Censor, and -three times allowed to appear again on the promise of good behaviour, -is almost the only one which shows any independence of the military -Press office, and dares to tell news other than optimistic to the -Berlin public. - -Wishing to read something fairly truthful about the war, I was scanning -this newspaper while riding in a tramcar on my way to the War Fund -garden party, which was, at the moment, the great attraction of all -Berlin. - -An elderly gentleman, sitting opposite me, after looking suspiciously -for a long while at the paper and at myself, addressed me with this -extraordinary remark: "To be a Socialist at the present moment is to be -an enemy of the Fatherland. You should be ashamed to read a paper like -that when you should be fighting for the country." - -I answered that I read what I liked best and that he need not worry--I -would gladly fight for my country as soon as she was at war. When -the old man heard I was an Italian he commenced, tactless as only a -German can be when he is of the tactless sort, a long talk about the -treacherous politics of Italy, the punishment Germany is going to give -her, and other similar nonsense. - -I got out of the car to avoid a useless dispute, and entered the large -courtyard of a sumptuous private residence in which the garden party -was being held. - -All that Berlin has left in the way of Society was there, _chic_ little -ladies dressed in the French style, drinking Russian tea, lounging -about or sitting at small tables in true English fashion. Without a -doubt, this is the ideal setting for a garden party in favour of the -German War Fund! - -A smart young girl came towards me and put a small silk flag in my -buttonhole--a German flag, of course; I had to give her a ten-marks -note for it, as other people at my side had just done. - -Of all the little sins I had to commit to carry out successfully my -Berlin trip, indispensable white lies, and misleading silences, the one -which I have the most on my conscience is certainly the contribution of -ten marks to the German War Fund! - -Through a wide arch we passed from the courtyard into a fairly large -garden, in which different tents had been erected for the sale of -flowers, small china pieces, and all the other useless, ugly little -things one is prepared to buy at a charity bazaar. The picture postcard -stall specially attracted my attention, as most of the cards referred -to the war. I got a large selection of masterpieces of bad taste, cheap -symbolism, and antediluvian humour. - -I carefully kept far from the buvette in which the Princess of Thurn -and Taxis was selling by auction glasses of Moselle wine at fantastic -prices. One of the officers in my company the previous night bumped -into me while trying to escape from a persistent flower girl. - -He was the man so well informed about London life in war time, and as -he, too, seemed to consider the garden party a very dangerous social -function (probably from different motives from my own) we left of -common accord without being caught again. - -He gave me some news about the war, and said Antwerp was about to -capitulate. - -"We shall get into the town in one or two days," he said. "It is -the intention of the Kaiser to occupy the whole of Belgium and to -advance on the north coast of France, so as to cut the usual lines of -communication with England." He said also that the official reports -from the eastern theatres of operation were very satisfactory (for -Germany), and concluded: "The Russians don't trouble very much about -us; their main objects are the southern Austrian provinces and, if -possible, Turkey." - -We sat down in an old-fashioned café, celebrated in all Berlin for its -excellent "Weiss-bier," the old all-Prussian drink stuff which is going -quite out of fashion and is now obtainable in very few restaurants. -Huge piles of newspapers and reviews were laid on a large table in -the centre of the room, as in every café in Berlin. The foreign -publications, generally very largely represented, were reduced to a few -soiled issues two months old. People sitting round the centre table -were enjoying and laughing loudly at the jokes of the humorous German -and Austrian papers. - -The dominant note in the caricature is the monotonous repetition of -a few coarse, common figures--the drunken Russian loaded with stolen -loot, the tall, thin, red-haired English soldier, who cares only for -the pay he gets; the sloppily-dressed Frenchman, who talks much and -does nothing. Kitchener, Poincaré, and Joffre seem pet subjects, and -they appear dressed in all possible clothes over and over again in -monotonous succession. - -One of _Ulk_'s last issues was almost entirely devoted to Kitchener and -to his recruiting scheme. - -Some of the drawings are really clever and bear the signature of -well-known artists, but the rest of these papers do not seem humorous -even to the Germans themselves. - -"They really don't know what to say," explained my companion. "All the -possible subjects of humour about our enemies have been exhausted long -ago, and even our best comic artists are forced to repeat themselves." - -"Do you believe in this 'dum-dum' story?" I asked, showing him a -drawing representing a French and an English soldier preparing the -murderous bullets, and, at the back of them, Death looking very pleased -at this sight. - -"Well, 'dum-dum' stories take wonderfully well with the public. People -simply adore to hear that the enemy are using illicit methods of -warfare. In mediæval times they used to say that the enemy had the help -of the evil power, or a magic sword, or something else of the kind. In -modern times 'dum-dums' are a wonderful survival of the old tales. Why -not give dum-dum stories to the public if they like them?" - -"But do you think 'dum-dums' have really been used?" I asked. - -"No, they are cruel and of no use at all. The 'dum-dum' bullets to be -effective must be of fairly large size, and we cannot use anything of -the kind with our modern rifles. In military circles we don't attach -any importance to these rumours. In all the wars of the last fifty -years the 'dum-dum' legend had a resurrection like the Arab phoenix." - -"But I have seen photos of 'dum-dum' bullets," I insisted. - -"So have I, but who can tell that the bullets have only been made -'dum-dum' after the cartridges have been served out? A soldier may -individually, without any officer telling him to do so, cut with -his pocket-knife across the part of the bullet which protrudes from -the brass part of the cartridge. The result is not that of a real -'dum-dum,' of course, but it is quite a good imitation. In a case like -this the Government to which the individual soldier belongs cannot be -called responsible for the violation of the Hague Convention." - -We walked out, as he had to get back to the barracks. I had no -programme for the rest of the afternoon. I walked straight on and found -myself in the Linden. - -I noticed that the few shops of English firms in Berlin were closed, as -were also the agencies of British ship companies. - -The first night of a great military drama was announced for the -evening, and curious little carriages covered by a sort of large square -box with the sandwich man completely concealed inside, showed large -posters with scenes of the drama. One exhibited a wonderful allegoric -picture with a bulldog, a bear, and a cock transfixed by the large -sword with which they had been killed. Needless to say, on the top of -it was a large Prussian eagle. - -The crowd of shoppers and idlers was going mostly towards the -Schloss-Brücke, and having nothing better to do I followed the current -of the people. - -In the Lustgarten a large crowd was waiting with an expectant air, -gazing at the central balcony overhanging the main entrance of the -Schloss. Before I had time to ask the reason of the excitement, one of -the French windows was opened by valets, and a tall lady, accompanied -by three children, dressed in white, came out and bowed smilingly to -the crowd. - -An enormous cheer received the Kronprinzessin. After remaining on the -balcony for a few minutes, during which she repeatedly bowed and kissed -the fair head of her eldest son, she retired, loud cheers being again -raised. - -I asked the reason of the demonstration, shivering at the idea that a -big success had been obtained by the German and that this was the way -the Berlin population expressed loyalty to its rulers. - -"Why, she appears every afternoon!" I was told. "A crowd comes here -every day at four o'clock. It has been so since the beginning of the -war." - -"Even when the war news was not very good?" I asked. - -"The news has always been very good," said my informant in a -contemptuous tone, and away he walked, disgusted at my disrespectful -remark. - -The crowd had now melted away slowly, and the Lustgarten had resumed -its air of aristocratic calm. In front of me was the huge mass of the -Imperial Palace, with the large bronze groups given to the Hohenzollern -family fifty years ago by the grandfather of the present Tsar. - -The balustrade of the balcony on which the Kronprinzessin had just -appeared is "decorated," to use the complimentary word of my Baedeker, -with the statues of German emperors and empresses in mythological -attire. Wilhelm II. is dreaming, I am sure, of putting there in a -few years his own effigy, of which he seems so extremely fond. What -disguise he will choose I cannot imagine; possibly he will dress as -Janus, the god of peace, Kaiser Frederich having already taken the -armour and shield of Mars. - -As for his son, everybody will agree that Mercury would be a suitable -_rôle_. Mercury was considered in old Rome the protector of the thieves. - - * * * - -The most astonishing thing I heard during my trip was that the price -of beer is going up steadily, and that maybe the classical types of -German beer--Pilsener and Münchener--will have to give place to other -drinks to make which oats are not required. Most of the oats supply is -imported, I learn, from South Russia and America, and the importation, -of course, is now completely stopped. - -I can easily fancy Berlin without the Linden, or the Sieges-Säule, the -most insolent monument I have ever seen--even without the Kaiser, but -not without plenty of beer. I am trying to think what the Berlin cafés -will look like at night without the national drink. Probably they will -get as dull as the teetotal London night clubs in war-time! - -I found myself walking down the Gendarmen Market, perhaps the only fine -square in Berlin. - -Here is the Schauspielhaus in which during one of my former visits -Moissi, an Italian who is one of Germany's best tragic actors, was -appearing in _Hamlet_ and _Othello_. I remember an old German professor -telling me of his almost exclusive love for the Shakespearean theatre, -and comparing it with the old and modern German theatre to the total -disadvantage of his countrymen. - -I wonder if the Chauvinistic influence of the war has made him love -Hauptmann and detest Shakespeare! - -Here is also the old French church, spoiled by recent restoration. Till -the outbreak of the war there used to be here a daily French service -and a Sunday sermon. Now the church is closed, most of the priests -have gone back to France, and one of them is said to be fighting -against Germany. Only an old French lady and the sacristan are there in -a small house at the back of the church. - -I knock for some time at the door, and finally I am admitted to an -old-world sitting-room, furnished with quite a number of plasters, -bronzes, and prints of all the saints who have blossomed during the -past centuries on the fertile soil of France. - -It takes me quite a time to persuade the good old lady that I am not -German, and not there to find out anything, but I finally get all -her confidence when I offer to carry a letter for her son, one of -the French church priests now in France. She tells me that they had -inquisitions over inquisitions by the military authorities since the -beginning of the war. - -"They went to look even in the church; they respect nothing, the -brutes," she went on, forgetting her prudence, and, pointing to the -picture of the Rheims Cathedral cut out of an illustrated paper, -"This, Monsieur, was no human work. Men can construct churches, of -course, and beautiful ones too, but the Cathedral was more than that; -it was divine, and they have destroyed it. - -"They have shelled God's house," she said, "just because Germans are, -and will always be, jealous of all that is beautiful and gentle and -refined. I should not talk like this. I am too old to hate anybody, but -I can't help it. I have been in Berlin ten years now, and I am afraid I -will never see France again. Perhaps it is better so. I could not stand -seeing the eagle where the tricolour was. But we must win; the world -will never have peace until Germany is beaten." - -I tried to persuade her that this was also my opinion, and I got her to -speak about the condition of the foreigners in Berlin. "I don't know -about the others," she said, "but the French are having an awful time -of it." - -"Have they been put into Concentration Camp?" I asked. - -"No; only the young fellows are detained, and they are, I believe, the -most fortunate. A lot of French women and children are starving, as the -fathers are refused work everywhere, and even the shopkeepers refuse to -sell stuff to them." - -I waited for her to write the letter to her son, and I left the little -bit of France in German territory with a sense of distress. The last -words of the old lady were, "Walk out quickly, if you please; and don't -stop outside the door. A polizist is generally there, and if you are -seen walking out of this place there will probably be trouble for you." - -No polizist saw me leaving the presbytery; I walked down Iäger Strasse -to the house of a well-known writer on military subjects, who holds -a high position at the Embassy of a neutral Power in Berlin, and who -was the only person who knew the reason of my visit. He was rather -surprised at the way I managed to get on, and when I gave him my -impressions he agreed on most points. - -"I believe," he said, "that the war will in a month's time or so assume -a sort of defensive character as far as the Germans are concerned. -They will occupy the whole of Belgium, and cover at the west a front -strengthened with temporary fortification works like those which are -being fully carried out at the back of the German fighting line. Then -the war will assume a more careful character; I daresay the Kaiser will -start economising the lives of his men, which he has freely spent up to -now. The attempt to take Paris by storm with a daring march forward, -_coute que coute_, which was not the plan of the German military -command, but the Kaiser's, has completely failed." - -"Germany realises that her soldiers are none too many, and wants to -make the best of them. That's why they will use any amount of temporary -fortification, and will abstain from the compact formations which were -quite all right forty years ago, but have proved complete failures on -this occasion. - -"When the Germans are on their fortified line they will wait for a -fresh supply of men and guns. The guns used in Belgium are mostly done -for, and have gone back to Essen to be repaired, and in many cases to -be melted down again. - -"As you have noticed, Germany seems to despise the Austrians' help. -That is very wrong; if nothing else, Austria has taken away from -Germany the shock of the largest part of the Russian Army, at least for -the present moment. - -"The war will only come to an end for one of the three following -reasons:-- - -"(1) The Triple Entente obtains successes in both theatres of operation -and breaks the line of temporary fortification I just told you about; -then France and England would have the way open to Berlin, and if the -Russians were successful in the East, Germany would be forced to ask -for peace. - -"(2) The Germans hurry up and break the Franco-English resistance -before the new English Army and the Colonial forces (which seem to be -of real advantage only in hot weather) step in next spring. This will -be now very difficult, as there are two large factors in the problem: -the Franco-British Fleet and the Russian Army. - -"(3) A neutral Power steps in and makes the scales go down at one or -the other side. If this intervention should be in favour of the Entente -the crushing of Austria would be almost immediate, and all the forces -could be concentrated against Germany, so that the latter would be -forced to ask for peace. - -"What is certain is that the war will have a sort of steady character -up to March or April, and that Germany reckons she will have to make -her maximum effort at that moment. - -"Somebody says the end of this war will be hurried by financial -reasons. I do not think that these will, alone, be strong enough to -settle this gigantic struggle. They are certainly an element worth -considering, but only after the military one." - -"And what will be the consequences of this war?" I ask. - -"I don't think the difference on the European map will be big in either -case. - -"Germany has fully realised what a mistake was the cession of -Alsace-Lorraine by France. The colonies will certainly be the most -affected by the future peace; but, of course, nowadays a war like -this has hardly any pretension of leading to the annexing of new -territories. What Europe is struggling for is supremacy of the -economical interests of one nation over another. - -"The idea that the largest Empire is the most powerful is childish, and -if this had not been proved a long time ago the present European war -would be enough to do so." - - - - -CHAPTER II - -POTSDAM AND HAMBURG - - -For my trip to Potsdam I had a bright, sunny morning. Potsdam, the -favourite residence of the Kaiser, and one of the most intensely -Prussian towns of Prussia, owing to the enormous number of barracks, -military buildings, and academies she has in proportion to her size, -attracted me for two reasons. - -First, I knew any amount of military drill was daily going on in the -large drill grounds, and that Potsdam, the cradle of the Prussian Army, -would be specially interesting to see in war time. - -Secondly, the only concentration camp in the immediate vicinity of -Berlin in which British prisoners are kept is Doberitz, quite close to -Potsdam. - -Potsdam gave me straight away the impression of being absolutely full -of soldiers. The regular garrison has gone to the front, of course, but -the first classes of the Landsturm, just called to arms, are drilling -day and night in the grounds of the artillery barracks. - -Some of the new guns (for the Russian frontier, I learn) are being -tested, and the military academy has been converted into a huge -hospital. The ugly, pretentious little town, full of copies of -old Italian and French buildings, seemed to be populated by an -extraordinary number of people in mourning, probably owing to the -fact that Potsdam being a garrison town, quite a number of officers' -families reside there. - -The entrance to the castle of Sans Souci, to the New Palace, and to the -Marble Palace is _verboten_. I asked the reason of this, and I was told -that the buildings are now being devoted to military purposes. - -I was losing all hope of being able to see something of interest when -the noise of a powerful engine made me look over my head. A gigantic -Zeppelin was performing different evolutions, dropping and rising again -hundreds of feet, changing the direction, and pointing a massive nose -now to the earth, now to the sky. - -I could see from the stability planes and from the shape of the tail -that it was one of the very latest models; also a sort of silvery -paint, probably the aluminium varnish which has been in use for years -in the Italian aerial fleet, had been adopted instead of the old grey -or copal varnish. I easily managed to find out that this was the first -test of a new machine, that two airships exactly alike were being -equipped in the flying grounds on the west side of the town, and that -old Count Zeppelin himself was looking after the operations. - -From morning to sunset there was an enormous activity in the whole of -the aerial park. Over a hundred aeroplanes of the Taube type were under -construction, and I was told that in every one of the German towns -which possesses aeroplane works, flying machines are being built in -large numbers. Apparently the idea is not only to supply machines in -place of those lost or damaged on the frontiers, but to have a very -large number of aeroplanes ready for next spring. - -The figures I heard varied very much, but a well-informed officer said -that Germany will have in March-April over a thousand new machines, -and that the engines of the whole air-fleet are already finished. I -asked what was Germany's object in getting such an enormous number of -machines ready, but I could only get the answer, "You wait and see!" - -As for the balloons, the largest workshops are in Posen and Hanover. - -The hangars erected at Potsdam are only four, but they are very -large, and a new system of concrete has been used in place of wood or -corrugated iron. - -The new Zeppelin seems very agile, considering its huge volume. The -cigar-like shape seems to me to be thicker than the old model, and the -distance between the gondolas carrying the engines and the body of the -airship has been very much reduced. - -A kind old lady lent me her good field-glasses, and I could see that -the crew numbered over a dozen, and that a general in uniform was on -board. The new airship did not, for the moment, show any number or mark -of any kind. After a few more evolutions the Zeppelin disappeared, -concealed by the trees of the Brauhausberg. - -I gave back the glasses to the old lady who lent them to me, and she -said that she was a widow of a captain who died in the 'seventies near -Sedan, and had now two sons and two sons-in-law at the front. "They are -at the right wing fighting the Englishmen, at the place of honour. Do -you know England at all?" she asked me, and then went on without giving -me time to answer her question. - -"Oh, I do hate that country! She had no business to come into this war, -and without her we should at this time be in Paris. Our fleet would -have destroyed the French fleet, and everything would be over." - -I asked her if any of her relations had been wounded. - -"Yes," she answered, "one of my sons last month. He was sent back here -for two weeks, but now he has recovered and has gone to the front -again." - -I could not help admiring the old lady; she was only thinking of the -success of the campaign, and very little of the danger that her sons -might never come back. The German woman has remained, in this way, the -wife of the fierce, barbarous warrior of Attila, in peace time counted -as a slave, or at best as a nurse for the children, but ready to buckle -the breast-plate of her man and to kiss him good-bye with dry eyes when -the moment for fighting comes. In peace-time one has the impression -that this type of woman has disappeared from Germany, and that her -place has been taken by the provincial type--sentimental up to her -wedding-day, practical after, or by the coquettish city type of woman, -who tries to copy the Parisienne or the Viennese, and only succeeds -in being the caricature of a smart woman, handicapped as she is by a -certain clumsiness of body and spirit. - -Now her country is at war, the German woman has become again the -descendant of the Valkyrie, of the wife of the mediæval warrior, of the -nursing woman of the 1870's. - -This war, sweeping away the paint of more or less real culture, of -social convention, of borrowed ways and manners, brings to the surface -the wild qualities of men but also the good ones of women. - -I asked the old lady to whom I was talking if she did not feel terribly -anxious and upset about her sons, and she answered:-- - -"I really haven't time to think much about them. Everybody is so busy -just now. We have got miseries of all kinds--wounded, refugees from -the Russian frontiers, lonely children to look after--and everybody is -trying to do his very best in helping the country." - -I asked her the way to Doberitz, and having crossed by the ferry boat a -small branch of the Havel, I went on in the direction of the village. -In a very large field at the back of the Potsdam's cavalry barracks I -saw a couple of thousand horses arranged in large circles of about one -hundred each, round huge piles of saddles. - -A number of reservists were busy showing some of the animals, and -cleaning and looking after some others. The horses, seen in the -distance, seemed perfectly fresh, and some of them looked exceptionally -fine. They seemed to belong mostly to the Hungarian type, and had long -hairy manes and tails, and strong muscles in their legs. - -I was very astonished, as I had read, and not in English papers only, -that the German Army was short of horses, and that the full cavalry -contingent was at the frontier. - -Those horses, I learnt, were a fresh supply, just received from Austria -and Hungary, as the southern Allies apparently have got many more -horses than soldiers to ride them. - -Other very large depôts of horses, which will be ready for military -service in a month or so, were at the south side of Berlin and Eisleben -and Leipsig. The Government are also trying to get horses from Sweden, -Denmark, and Norway, but the steps taken in this direction don't seem -to have given very good results. - -Germany is trying to get horses from everywhere, even at very high -prices, but, like the aeroplanes, not so much for immediate use, but to -have them ready for next spring. It is fully realised that cavalry at -the present moment, with winter frosts and conditions prevailing, would -be of hardly any use. - -After a fairly long walk on the muddy road I reached Doberitz and asked -for the concentration camp. I was told that it depended on whether I -wanted to see the new or the old one. The new one consists of large -temporary constructions, which are being erected on the manÅ“uvring -grounds on the Spandau road, and which will not be complete for some -time. The old one is at the extreme west side of the town, and is -really a large, lofty country house, with large green houses attached, -and a chapel, formerly inhabited by Carmelite nuns, standing in a -spacious garden. Only about two hundred English prisoners are kept -there, but many French prisoners are quartered in another building half -a mile distant. The large concentration camps are not here, but in the -North of Germany. The Tommies (I don't know if there are any officers -quartered with them) are made generally useful; they cut wood for the -trenches, sew and prepare sacks for the same purpose, and anyone who -has ability to do extra work receives a small payment for it, with -which he can purchase tobacco, etc. - -I asked if it was possible to talk with the prisoners, but was -told that not even German people are allowed to do so, and that no -permission to enter the camp was ever accorded, whatever the reasons. - -I thought it would be useless, and probably dangerous, for me to try -and get in, and I had to be content with walking close to the long, -white wall which separates the grounds of the old convent from the main -road. I heard voices talking in the purest Cockney accent, laughter, -and popular English songs hummed at the other side. - -At the south of Doberitz there is a small hill less than 100 ft. high, -covered with thick vegetation. From its summit I managed to get a good -look into the Concentration Camp. - -Forty or fifty British soldiers, in khaki trousers and shirt-sleeves, -were smoking and sitting about outside the main entrance of the house. -It was about two o'clock in the afternoon, and they were evidently -enjoying their after-dinner rest. - -Two seemed to be in rather friendly conversation with one of the German -soldiers who were looking after them, and another was listening to an -old officer who was giving him some instructions. - -I noticed that the Tommy stood at attention, as though he were in -front of a British officer, and that, when the German went among the -soldiers, they saluted him in the regular manner. All along the inside -of the high wall of the garden Prussian soldiers were walking up and -down as stiff as if they were mounting guard at the Imperial Palace. - -"What would I give," I said to myself, "to be able to talk to them, -to give them fresh news from England, to take home their letters. -A scrap of paper with their names only would probably be enough to -bring happiness to hundreds of English families which are now mourning -them as dead. It seemed ridiculous not to be able to get somehow into -contact with those men who were only four or five hundred feet distance -from me." - -Of course, it couldn't be done, and I walked sadly down the little hill -thinking of the poor young fellows, probably worried by false news -about the war and forced to prepare material for the trenches which -will stop their pals' bullets and protect their gaolers. - - * * * - -The few days I had decided to spend in Berlin coming to an end, I set -out upon the return journey through Hamburg, in which town I wanted -to see as much as possible of Germany's naval preparations. Though I -fully realised that it would be much better to have gone to Kiel for -this purpose, or even better to Wilhelmshaven, I did not attempt such a -journey because of the terribly slow railway communications, and also -because of the improbability of getting anywhere near the arsenals. - -Hamburg, the largest town in Germany after Berlin, the oldest -shipbuilding city in Europe (she was already rich and powerful when -Glasgow was unknown and Liverpool was but a small fishing village), is -probably the most representative town in the whole of Germany. - -Here the prosperity of Germany after the proclamation of the Empire -shows itself in a mighty way; the words of August Bebel have found the -right kind of soil, and have produced the wonderful organisation of -workmen which was powerful enough to erect the Gewerkschaftshaus. - -A question which has puzzled me since the beginning of the war is, what -are the German Socialists doing? What happened to their international -sympathies; what do they think of this war and of the way Germany -is treating the Belgian and French population? When I asked these -questions to a well-known Hamburg Socialist, the only answer he could -give me was this: - -"We are reduced to a very small number at the present moment; when a -Socialist workman is called to arms, not only he immediately forgets -all about his Socialist beliefs, but even his family, his father, and -his brothers--not to mention women, who are absolutely war-mad, seem -to lose all interest in what is not war. Of course, I firmly believe -that as soon as the war is over the Socialist Party will become even -stronger than it was before, but for the present we are so few that -we don't dare to say a word, nor to criticise that which ought to be -criticised." - -Waiting for the resurrection of Socialism, the Labour Party is -indirectly helping the common cause. Three entire floors of the -Workmen's Institute have been transformed into hospitals, and nurses, -doctors, sanitary appliances, etc., are supplied by the Trade Unions' -League. - -All shipbuilding firms, from the enormous concerns of international -fame to the smallest, have been taken up by the Government, or are at -least working for it. - -Godeffroy, Stülchen, Weichhorst, etc., are now specially occupied in -the construction of submarines. The strictest secrecy is observed about -the plant, and the number of ships under construction is not known. - -The enormous Vulcan Works on the other side of the town, the commercial -Altona, and the still larger Blohm and Voss works, are turning out at -present four battleships, and the former firm has nearly finished a new -floating dock which is said to be the largest in existence. Hamburg -will have altogether six large floating docks, which will certainly -prove of great help in the work of rescuing damaged warships. In less -than two hours they may be taken right down to the open sea, through -the Elbe, and from there reach at full speed any ships too badly -damaged to steam by their own means and convey them to the Hamburg -dockyards. - -To say that the shipbuilding concerns have been "taken up" by the -Government is really inexact and superficial; nearly all of the firms -have furnished the German Navy with some ships during the last few -years--Blohm, for instance, is responsible for the _Von der Tann_, the -_Moltke_, and the _Goeben_. - -A Hamburg firm that specialises in lighthouses, etc., is now -constructing an enormous number of searchlights, which are to be added -to those already possessed by the Navy, and which are mentioned -here as _specially made for the attack on the British coasts_. Other -searchlights, almost equally powerful, but not quite so heavy, are -fixed on all balloons and aeroplanes. - -The unemployment plague, which is very serious all over Germany, -especially among women, is worse here than anywhere else; nearly all -the factories, mills, and works having been closed long since. While -great activity reigns in the dockyards, the Asia and America quay, the -Petroleum-Hafen, and the quays of the great steamship companies, which -generally present a picturesque and busy scene, are deserted. The big -ships, bereft of all their goods, have a sort of sleepy look about -them, and they give the impression that not a soul is on board. - -Near the Ellenzhobz-Hafen one of the large steamers of the -Hamburg-America line is being converted into a Red Cross Hospital. The -gilded furniture, the carpets and pictures are being taken away and -deposited on the bank by a large steam crane, and the Red Cross mark -has already been painted on the ship. - - * * * - -I would much rather not go over again my return journey. It is a -sickening story of slow trains, stopped at every station, of annoyances -of every kind, of hurried meals in bad railway station buffets, of -hours and hours of waiting because a train was cancelled at the last -minute and the next one was full of soldiers or wounded, and did not -take ordinary passengers, etc. - -At Bremen I am stopped as an alien enemy, insulted by a drunken crowd -and taken to the police station, where I am detained the rest of the -night. In the morning the inspector comes, looks at the mysterious -passport I got in Berlin, apologises and releases me just in time to -have missed the morning train. This identical scene is repeated at the -Dutch frontier. - -My mind is naturally full of recollections, recollections a little -chaotic owing largely to the fact that to have taken a single note -would have been very dangerous for me during the search I had to -undergo. - -There was certainly an enormous difference between London and Berlin -after three months' war. The optimism which in Germany is very strong -among the people in the street and very moderate in the army is here in -London exactly in opposite proportions. - -As for the economic position, the commercial possibilities and -industrial crisis, no comparison is possible between the two countries; -the geographical position of Britain and the action of her Fleet give -her an enormous superiority over her enemies. - -Signs of financial distress, it is true, are not very evident in -Berlin; the increase in prices has been small, and has begun only -during the last few weeks. I don't know if things will go on like -this when the winter has almost paralysed the production of German -foodstuffs, the reserves are exhausted, and the importation through -Denmark and Holland has somehow been stopped. - -It is needless to say that Germany has no Colonial contingent to put -on against our Colonial troops, and that the fighting power of our -enemies, owing to the strictly applied recruiting system, and to the -above fact, is essentially limited, while Britain's can have no end of -resources. Certainly this war will be very, very long. - -The high spirit of the German nation, the decision of the Army to fight -to the very last, the fact that the Kaiser knows perfectly that the -_débâcle_ would be the end of the Prussian hegemony and of his family's -power, and the military education given to the German people during the -whole of the last century, make of this nation an extremely difficult -enemy to tame. - -Endless sacrifices of comforts, of money, of life, will be needed not -only from England, France, Russia, and Belgium, but from all other -nations on earth who have simply been considering Germany as a huge -latent danger during the last forty years. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -CONSTANTINOPLE, _October 31st, 1914_. - - -Here I am, after all! From the large window of my room at the Tokatlian -Hotel, the wonderful city, the Bosphorus, and, far away, the woods -and the mosques of Scutari, look like a dream-vision in the blue, -transparent light which seems to come not from the sky only but from -the trees, from the sea, from everywhere. - -It is midnight, and everything is perfectly quiet. - -If an artist had to choose a landscape which should symbolise the -perfect peace of men and things, he would choose the one on which I am -now looking. And yet even here there is war! - -On my way from Dedeagach to Constantinople I got news of the -declaration of war by Turkey. Perhaps if I had tried to cross the -Turkish frontier only a few hours later I should not have succeeded; -as a matter of fact, to-day I saw any number of foreigners, English, -French, Italians, Russians, and Greeks, trying to leave Constantinople -by train. - -Only very few of them could manage to get away, as Turkey is busy -sending troops to the western frontier, and only a few seats are -available for ordinary travellers. - -The foreigners who could not get away to-day had to content themselves -with booking seats for next week, seats which, though they had to be -paid for, were not guaranteed. - -The Dardanelles are closed, of course, and the only communication -with the rest of Europe is this fantastic railway service. French and -English people can, in theory, leave the town. Not so Russian people. - -A special concentration camp has been arranged in a large old bazaar -near the Odoun Kapou, and quite close to the military gaol. There is -room for seven thousand prisoners, and I am afraid the young Englishmen -and Frenchmen who don't get away pretty soon will have to go and keep -company with the Russians. - -Of course, the concentration camps are copied from German models. -Everything, in fact, in Constantinople is copied from a German model. -During the last four or five months Enver Pasha, "the soul of the -new Turkey," according to his newspaper--_Le Jeune Turc_--"le trait -d'union entre Allemagne et Turquie," according to the perhaps more -correct definition of _Le Stamboul_--which, by the way, has been -suppressed--assisted by a large staff of German officers, has been -arranging for the wholesale Germanisation of Turkey. - -There is no doubt about the result; it is excellent, at least from the -German point of view. It was not a hurried job; since Algeciras Germany -has redoubled her military activity in Turkey. This work has gone on -steadily for years, while alongside of it Germany has carried out a -careful and far-sighted commercial expansion. - -To take at the present moment only Constantinople, and to say nothing -of the rest of European or Asiatic Turkey, you find the water, the -gas and electric light, the railways, the importation of wheat, the -motor-'bus services, most of the shipping companies, and the tramcars -all belong to German companies or to companies which, if Turkish or -French in name, are controlled and financed by Germans. - -The German Government has assisted in every possible way in these -enterprises; many German firms were taken up by the Turkish War Office -during the last few weeks. A typical case was that of a very large -German fireworks firm, which was established about three years ago, -and never turned out any fireworks to the knowledge of anybody in -Constantinople. - -Now the large German staff of the firm is producing any amount of -ammunition, and if what is said here is true an enormous quantity of -nitre and cotton-wool, and also lead and other metals, has been stored -in the firm during the last few weeks. - -It is absolutely ridiculous to talk about a Russian aggression in the -Black Sea, as most of the Turkish papers are doing. Everybody knew here -that Turkey meant to go to war. - -Such was the view of Germany and of Enver Pasha. Not only was the -Turkish Army, under the direction of about 200 German officers, along -with Turkish officers trained in Germany, getting ready as fast as -possible since the beginning of the war, but two months before the war -broke out the Turkish War Office began to get busy, to change generals -and substitute for the old decorative officers a more efficient staff, -to order new uniforms and boots. - -It is difficult to say what were the intentions of Turkey at that -moment, but the fact remains that during the past forty years the -Turkish Army has never been in better condition and less lacking -materials than to-day. - -This does not mean that the army is strong or well equipped; far from -it, but it is certain that very much has been done lately and a fair -amount of money spent. - -What were the reasons of all this activity, and where did the money -come from? It is easy enough to answer these questions--Germany -expected to be at war and wanted Turkey to be ready. - - * * * - -I have spent my first day in Constantinople in a long walk through the -old town. I wanted to see how the declaration of war had affected the -population. To tell the truth, it does not seem to have affected the -people at all. - -The manager of the hotel told me it was better to substitute my western -headgear for a fez if I wanted to go into Stamboul or Scutari, and he -advised me also to speak German if I had to ask for some directions. - -It is the only foreign language which is not likely to wake up the -anti-Christian sentiments of the crowd. - -Pera, the modern and civilised part of Constantinople, gives the -impression of a big spa out of season. The large hotels are mostly -closed, the cafés, the restaurants, the shops which generally sell only -to the tourist had no customers this year and did not open at all. - -I noticed that the few shops open had taken away from the windows -the little boards announcing that English or Russian is spoken. "On -parle français" was still in evidence, but the other languages were -apparently extinct. Constantinople at the moment speaks only German. - -Protected by my red fez, I crossed the long bridge which leads to -Stamboul and found myself in the old city. The crowd seemed to be -occupied with anything on earth but the war. There was the usual noise, -there were the usual cries, the usual slow-going traffic. - -This seemed rather curious to me. Was it possible that nobody could -realise what a terrible move the Turkish Government had made the day -before? Did they even know that Turkey was at war with Russia and that -to-morrow probably all the Allies would be against her? - -Only the night before the key to the enigma had been given me by a -dragoman who, though in a lower social scale, could nevertheless speak -German:--"We did not want this war," he said. "We did not want either -the Balkan War or the war against Italy, but, after all, we know -perfectly that the more silly things our rulers do, the sooner they -will have to go, and the sooner the better. - -"We are tired of the so-called Young Turk Government. It is worse than -the Government of Abdul Hamid. Things being as they are, we keep quiet -and hope it will be over as soon as possible." - -"But you would not like to have a Russian Government, for instance?" -said I. - -"It would not be worse than this one," he answered. "None could be -worse. One fine day, when things go badly, Enver Bey and all the Young -Turks will clear off with the money they have made at our expense, and -leave us to settle the account. They don't care at all for Turkey. -They only care for their private ambitions. Most of them are not Turks -either, but Greeks or Armenians or Levantines or Jews. - -"The Turkish people have realised long ago that Turkey, as a nation, -resisted as long as she did because the European nations could not -agree on her partition. The only thing to do was to keep quiet and try -to avoid any struggle. We should have done that if Abdul Hamid had not -been deprived of his power; our new rulers had the dream of making -Turkey once more a Great Power. But their efforts had quite an opposite -result." - -All this may sound rather tragic, but it was spoken as if it was the -most natural thing in the world for a modern Turk to regard himself as -simply the citizen of a country that was up for sale by auction. - -My informant did not even seem to care to know who the buyer might be. - -The dragoman represents the most patriotic part of the population of -Turkey--the Turks. As for the other elements--Greek, Bulgar, Armenian, -Serbian, Wallach, Gipsy, and Jewish, which are in numbers ten times -superior to the Turks--they have different aspirations, and naturally -look for a change in the direction of their own nationality or, at -least, of their own religion. - -The only people who have sympathy for Germany seem to be the Jews -and Gipsies, the former, who live mostly on the Bosphorus and the -Dardanelles, being closely connected with Germany by commercial -interests. - -It is in this attitude of complete passivity that the population of -Constantinople is waiting. The attempt to wake up the Islamic feeling -is not likely to have a great influence in European Turkey. - -To-day in most places meetings have been arranged, and muezzins have -started promising the paradise of Allah, the Houris and all the rest, -to those who are ready to die for the Motherland and the true God. - -My dragoman told me they did not arouse much enthusiasm amongst the -population. I heard a Moslem preacher myself address the Mevlevis, the -dancing Dervishes, who were giving an extra performance. - -Of course, I could not understand a word of the sermon, but the -Mevlevis, if not the public, got much excited, some wounding themselves -with swords as they offered their blades to Allah. - -The cry of "Damour Kaffir" (dogs of infidels) and a few suspicious -glances in my direction persuaded me that it was better to leave the -Dervishes alone, and I made my way out of the dense crowd. - -In the little square outside, standing on the steps covered with green -and blue china tiles of a wonderful old sacred fountain, was a sort of -recruiting sergeant with two soldiers acting as helps, one carrying a -large book, the Koran, the other the green standard of the Prophet. - -Around them half-a-dozen filthy-looking children were standing in -astonishment, but there was no sign of a recruit. - -To-night, when my indispensable dragoman translated for me a leading -article from the _Tanin_, the Turkish official newspaper which is the -mouthpiece of Enver Pasha's pan-Islamic ideals, I was much surprised to -hear the following paragraph:-- - -"The whole of Turkey is ready to take up arms against the infidels. The -enthusiasm awakened in Constantinople by the declaration of war against -Russia is almost unbelievable. Turkey is ready to take again her place -amongst the great European Powers. We are now members of the New Triple -Alliance, and with the help of Allah and of our powerful Allies we are -certain to get back again all we have lost through the fault of our -late Government." - - * * * - -_November 2nd._ - -I think that what happened this morning is really too extraordinary -even for the Turkish Diplomacy, too curious even for one who knows the -extremely curious systems of the Turkish Government. - -Yesterday all the Constantinople newspapers were talking about the -declaration of war against Russia (the Ambassadors of the Entente -having to leave very soon) and the resurrection of the Turkish Empire; -the muezzins were preaching the war, the recruiting sergeants were -trying to get new men; to-day the _Tanin_, the newspaper of the Turkish -Government, says that Turkey is not at war, and that she will only -defend herself if the Powers of the Entente move against her. How -delightfully Oriental! - -Of course, Turkish papers have an excellent habit of never -contradicting themselves. What was said yesterday is completely -forgotten to-day; not a word about it. _So Turkey is not at war._ - -That is why, perhaps, some signs of war have begun to appear to-day in -Constantinople. Turkish logic! - -This morning there has been "a sort of a demonstration" in favour of -the war. A couple of thousand people with Turkish and German flags, and -under the very eyes of the passive police, wrecked two or three Russian -shops and also the windows of a French bookseller who dared to exhibit -Russian and English books. Afterwards the crowd came down the Avenue -des Petits Champs, where the Embassies are, and hissed the Russian and -the French. - -The beautiful Florentine palace, the residence of the British -Ambassador, had a few windows smashed, and two large hotels owned by -French societies were also damaged. - -This Jingo crowd was mostly composed of people wearing the fez, but -of rather Western appearance. Some of them, fair haired, and of true -Teutonic bearing, did not leave any doubts about their nationality, -some bore the mark of their Jewish descent, some belonged to the -international mob of all big seaports. I don't know if amongst the -crowd there was a single real Turk. - -As I write, in the large square outside the Arsenal, military -exercises under the command of Turkish and German officers are going -on. The Germans attached to the Turkish army or to the Embassy in -Constantinople have organised all the young Germans into a regular -troop. Now every one of them is acting as an instructor, and probably -before long they will have a uniform and an official status in the -Turco-German army. - -During the last two weeks trains loaded with arms, ammunition of all -kinds, Red Cross requisites, and even guns have been arriving from the -north. An enormous quantity of sea mines has been sent down--evident -sign that the Germans intend to follow in the Dardanelles the same -tactics of naval war they are following in the North Sea. - -A large part of the Fleet, I really don't know if I have to call it the -Turkish fleet or the Allied fleet, or perhaps the German fleet, has -come back into the Bosphorus. The names of the vessels are, of course, -quite Turkish. The _Goeben_ was rechristened _Sultan Selim_; the -_Breslau_ got instead the new name of _Medilla_, which means _Mitilen_, -in Turkish. - -The bridge on the Golden Horn is open, and yesterday the _Goeben_ went -right across the long bay and dropped anchor outside the Arsenal. -Then on the ship began a sort of feverish work. A number of large -flat-bottomed boats were sent out from the Arsenal loaded with workmen, -who proceeded to do some mysterious repairs on board. It was possible -to hear the continuous hammering, but the distance did not allow me to -see what kind of work was going on. - -Certainly no great damage had been done to the ship because, while the -repairs were going on, a large quantity of ammunition and numerous -cases which looked as though they contained foodstuffs were lifted on -board with the help of two big cranes. - -In the afternoon I made the acquaintance of a German officer who had -been on board the _Goeben_ during the last three years. He told me that -the ship had not suffered any serious damage; something went wrong with -the helm, but it would be all right in the evening. - -My new friend seemed most proud of the exploits of his ship during the -last month, and when I flattered his vanity by telling him that the -_Goeben_ and _Breslau_ had been the talk of all Europe for many weeks, -he was so pleased that he willingly told me all that had happened on -board since the outbreak of war. - -"It is a wonderful story," he began. "Two days before the outbreak of -hostilities the _Goeben_ was at Fiume loading coal, while the _Breslau_ -was in the southern part of the Adriatic Sea. - -"We got orders to meet her at a certain spot in the open Mediterranean, -and we sailed, leaving ashore a few of our men who had obtained short -leave. Even our wireless operator was ill, and had to be left in -the hospital at Fiume, but luckily enough we had somebody else on -board who understood wireless as well as he did. If not, I don't know -how we could have managed it, as when we were in the Ionian Sea the -meeting-place with the _Breslau_ was suddenly changed on account of -some English ships which were reported leaving Malta that day, and -likely to discover our route. - -"As the declaration of war was expected at any moment, we were trying -to go as far westward as possible in order to be able to do some damage -either on the Algerian or Tunisian coast. We got another wireless -message, and the order to show ourselves on the African coast, and -to retreat as soon as possible to the Dardanelles. If necessary, the -Turkish fleet would have protected our retreat into the Straits. - -"We went straight to Bona and Philippeville, which were the only places -of importance not too far from our position at that moment. You know -what a lot of damage we managed to do in a few hours. Of course, the -most important thing was not to destroy the towns, but to call the -attention of the British and French fleets to that spot so that they -would rush down there and leave us free the route to the Dardanelles. - -"We left the African coast in the afternoon and made our way eastward -as fast as our engines would allow us to go. Twice we saw British -ships scouting, but we managed to avoid being seen and coming to an -engagement which would have brought all the united fleet against us -in a few hours' time. Later on we met two more British ships, which -started to chase us. - -"We were far superior in speed, and would have left them behind us but -for a third ship which appeared on the horizon down south. The only -thing for us to do was to rush forward. We had to seek an asylum in the -bay of Messina. - -"The neutrality of Italy at that moment was not a certainty. Our move -would really have helped her to take a decision, and to keep faithful -to her allies as well as protect her own real interests. Our Government -thought so too, but Italy did not move, so we found ourselves under the -necessity of leaving Messina in daytime. - -"The British fleet, sure of our capture, was waiting outside the -Italian territorial waters. We really did not hope to get out of the -Bay without engaging in a battle under very unequal conditions. - -"The weather, which had been wonderfully fine for over a month, came to -our help. In the afternoon it began to get cloudy, and at ten o'clock -it was pitch dark. This was quite an exception in the Straits of -Messina at that time of year. - -"We can thank that darkness for our escape. With no light on board, -we went right across the bay; on both sides we could see the lights -of the British warships, and the searchlight often explored the sea -at a few metres' distance from us. We were all on deck waiting to be -discovered, and to engage in a fight which could not possibly result in -our favour. - -"At a certain moment a light, probably belonging to a fishing boat, -attracted the attention of the British ships, and all the searchlights -were concentrated on that spot. This almost certainly saved us. Slowly -and silently we passed at a few hundred metres' distance from an -Italian warship on sentinel near the Calabrese coast. If she had seen -us we should have answered the signals, and that would have attracted -the attention of the whole British squadron. - -"We thought we were quite out of danger, but when the morning broke we -discovered a British ship following us. We increased our speed, but -the other ship seemed to be as fast as we were. Then we decided to get -rid of her, and while we went on by the side of the Greek coast the -_Breslau_ got farther down in the open sea. The British ship stopped -undecided; we opened fire on her, and she answered with a lot of -shells, none of which reached either of our ships. Always fighting, we -made our way forward. - -"Near the Greek Island of Cerigo we must have hit the boat with one of -our torpedoes, as she seemed to lose speed and then suddenly stop. We -lost sight of her, but after a few hours we came in sight of a ship -hoisting a French flag. Before she saw us we changed our route and hid -ourselves behind one of the Cyclades Islands, in a sort of triangle of -sea from which we could see, unseen, in every direction. - -"We were very short of ammunition, coal, and everything else owing to -the hurried departure from our base, and also to the long ride across -the Mediterranean. There were also some urgent repairs to be done on -board of our ship. The _Breslau_ was untouched. - -"We stayed in our refuge two days, and in the evening of the second -day, hearing from some officers who had been sent out scouting -with motor-boats that the route was free, we made our way to the -Dardanelles. You know the rest of our story." - -"And what about the sale of the two ships to Turkey?" I asked candidly. - -"The sale was a very simple operation. We got our carpenters on board -to paint the new names over the old ones. That was all. The job was not -neatly done, that's true, as the old names were in embossed letters, -and they always showed through, although they were painted grey!" he -said laughingly. "We didn't even trouble to change the name on the -lifeboats, etc., as we knew that in a few weeks' time that would not be -of any more importance." - -"I suppose you have had rather a busy time in Constantinople during the -last two months?" - -"Terribly busy. We had to train quite a number of Turkish sailors, who -were quite all right for an old-fashioned fleet, but did not know what -to do on a modern warship. The artillery men were only used to very old -materials, and had no idea of our modern guns; anyhow, we have done -it, and done it very quickly too. Now they are as good as any sailor in -any other navy. The five principal units of our navy in the Bosphorus -are now commanded by German officers, and have a mixed crew which is -likely to prove very efficient." - -"And what about the fight in the Black Sea?" - -"About that, dear sir, I cannot say a word. The news for the public was -given by the Orient Bureau to the Press and the rest has to be kept -secret, at least for the present." - -"So you are converted, more or less, into a Turkish officer?" - -"Into a Turkish officer? No fear. We have converted the Turkish ships -into German ships; that is what we have done. In a few days the world -will see that the Turkish fleet would never have been able to perform -what we are going to do." - -And with a vague gesture full of obscure menace and foretelling -wonderful deeds, the hero of the _Goeben_ left me to go back on board. - - * * * - -I devoted my afternoon to a visit to Aya Sophia, the wonderful church -which is still gorgeous and majestic, in spite of the Turkish attempts -to disfigure it. - -There was a special war-time service going on. One of the large old -carpets, which are supposed to have belonged to Mahomet, had been taken -down from the wall, on which they generally hang, for display on the -floor under the centre of the big dome. At the carpet's corners four -_imans_ were praying with fervour, and at their side four censers -filled the air with clouds of smoke and strong perfume. On the carpet -lay the sword of Mahomet the Conqueror, the Sultan who has dedicated -St. Sophia to the Mahomedan cult. He constructed the higher of the -temple's minarets. - -A thick crowd of kneeling figures covered the whole floor of the large -cathedral. The sacred sword is only exhibited on very important -occasions. Since the Tripoli war it has never been taken from its -jewelled case. The news that this time the famous arm has been exposed -will spread all round the Islamic world, and the Germans seem to hope -that this sign that the religion of Allah is in danger will wake up all -the followers of Mohammed. But the high priests themselves do not seem -too sure of the fact. During the last few years the prestige of the -Sultan as supreme religious head has been greatly shaken; it is feared -that the present attitude of Turkey may lead to a new and stronger -schismatic movement. It is almost certain that the day Turkey loses -Constantinople, the Mahomedans will cease to consider the Sultan as -chief of their religion. - -While I was admiring the really imposing scene, made even more -fantastic by the flashing lights of hundreds of lamps, which emulated -the light of the sun coming in copiously through the windows, wide -open, four new _imans_ took charge from the old ones. The sword will -be exposed a whole week, and during this time four of the highest -_cheiks_ of the temple will be in continuous prayers around it. - -While leaving the Temple I crossed the side passage of the Gyneceus. -Here is the old door through which the priest who was celebrating the -mass when, according to Greek tradition, Mahomet the Conqueror rode on -horseback right in the middle of the church in 1454, disappeared with -the altar cup and his sacerdotal ornaments. The Turks ran after him -to kill him as they had done with thousands of people who had sought -asylum in the temple, but the door was immediately closed by a stone -wall. - -When St. Sophia is given back to the Christian cult, continues the -Greek tradition, the priest will reappear and continue the service at -the very point at which he was interrupted. - -It is one of the finest of popular beliefs, quite worth keeping alive -for its own sake. - -I wonder if the moment when the Greeks will have to admit that their -beautiful tradition is only a legend is not coming sooner than they -thought. - - * * * - -_November 3rd._ - -I have now been two days in Constantinople; I have compared the present -condition of the Army, of the Navy, and of the different Services -with their condition four years ago, when I came first to the Turkish -capital. I have recalled to my mind what I saw at Tripoli, three years -ago, when the Turks demonstrated their worth from a military point of -view; and, finally, I have taken into consideration the lessons to be -learned from their conduct in the Balkan War. - -There is only one possible conclusion: there is a big change in -everything; there is the evident mark of somebody who pulls the -strings, and pulls them with a definite object, and with strong and -delicate hands. - -That somebody is Enver Pasha. - -Till a few weeks ago the question: "Is Enver Pasha really a clever -politician and a first-rate military man?" would have had one answer -only--"Of course he is; he is the only great man of Turkey; as long as -he lives Turkey will have some hope of resurrection." - -This man, who has the celebrity and the ambition of a little Napoleon, -is, at the bottom, nothing more than a child with a large dose of -vanity. He worships publicity, he loves to see his photographs in the -big foreign papers, to read the gossip about his private life, in which -he used to pose as a _blasé_ man of the world, surrounded by a full -score of wonderful princesses wanting only to marry him. His vanity -went as far as to make him proceed legally against a photographer who -dared to publish a picture postcard showing Enver as he really is, -short and stoutish. - -As for his character, he is neither capable nor determined. He takes -up everything with great enthusiasm, but never accomplishes his work. -The only deed of his mighty career was the ruin of Abdul Hamid; Europe -looked at him as at a novel Brutus, and Enver made at once a world-wide -fame and a fairly large fortune. - -From his gilded cage, the beautiful Villa Allatini, on the Bosphorus, -in which he is kept prisoner, the former Sultan has written repeatedly -to the man who has dethroned him and led his country to take the most -foolish of steps, asking that neutrality should be observed as long -as possible, and saying that only by keeping friends with the great -Mediterranean Powers and Russia could the Sick Man of Europe obtain -another lease of life. - -Enver took no notice of the advice of the old Sovereign, who is -certainly one of the most Machiavellian and tactful politicians of -modern times. If anything, Enver tried to rush by personal action the -Turkish intervention. - -Here, in Constantinople, one imagines that he must have the gift of -ubiquity. He is everywhere. He traced personally the route of a new -railway line, which will connect directly the Arsenal with the main -line; he fixed the place where the platforms for the new large guns -from Germany were to be erected; he selected the houses which were to -serve as temporary barracks, hospitals, and depôts; he was seen on one -day at the two extreme points of the Dardanelles (a record considering -the leisurely Turkish communication), arranging for special protective -trenches to be constructed in defence of roads and railway lines -exposed to the fire of the naval artilleries. And while doing all this -material work he had all the diplomatic arrangements completely on his -shoulders, and had to carry out, as though not pretending to do so, the -orders from Berlin. - -A Diplomat who had many years of Turkish experience, having been -connected with one of the Embassies in Constantinople for over ten -years, tells me that, during the last month, and especially after his -marriage with the Sultan's niece, Enver Pasha has affected a sort of -private Court, and surrounded himself with truly Imperial luxuries. -Audience with him was more difficult than with the Sultan. - -"Enver flatters himself to act independently," said my diplomatic -friend. "He tries to play the great diplomat and the great captain, but -really he is only a toy in the hands of Germany. He has reorganised -the army and the navy with German officers, German arms, German money, -and he seems to believe that he has been very clever and got very much -for nothing. He does not realise that acting as he did has completely -ruined his country, whatever the result of the war. - -"I believe that Germany's plan is this: She hopes that Turkey, with her -fleet reinforced by the two German warships, will obtain an initial -success in the Black Sea. In this case she reckons on the Pan-Islamic -feelings waking up all over the Mussulman world, which will mean -serious trouble for England and France in North Africa, necessitating -the withdrawal of a part of their troops from the principal theatre of -operations. - -"If Turkey does not succeed in her action against Russia, the latter -will see her way open to Constantinople, and will probably not be able -to resist the temptation of sending down a large part of her troops, -and so press with less force on the Austro-German frontier. - -"Moreover, Germany hopes that this will break the perfect accord which, -up to the present, has lasted between the nations of the Entente. As -you see, Turkey in the German plan is reduced to the modest proportion -of the victim which will serve her in the matter of settling accounts -at the end of the war." - -To-day the general service decree issued three days ago takes effect, -and the newspapers say that Turkey will be able to raise an army -of over two and a half millions. The uniforms of the soldiers are -extraordinarily like those of the Germans, the only difference being -the substitution of the fez for the cap. - -The troops look fit, and have brand-new uniforms and boots; the -cavalry, which has been taken over from the Asiatic side of the -Bosphorus, possesses exceptionally fine horses. - -But the weak spot of such troops lies in the officers; some of them, -belonging to Asiatic families, are ignorant and hardly understand -the use of modern arms or the systems of modern warfare; others, -German-trained, have absorbed a large amount of the grimness of their -instructors, and the soldiers have neither sympathy with nor confidence -in them. The Turkish soldiers are said to be good fighters, but in all -probability their fame still rests on the Crimean campaign. During the -Tripoli and Balkan wars they proved to be less than mediocre soldiers. - -These soldiers, who are going to fight an unknown enemy for a reason of -which they are ignorant, are in Constantinople in great numbers, and -every day new contingents arrive from the other side of the Bosphorus. -They walk about Stamboul with a sort of surprised look in their black -eyes. The officers prefer Pera and Galata, the European parts of -Constantinople, and are mostly seen accompanied by Germans. - -Pera offers really very little in the way of attractions just now. - -All the theatres have been closed by order, probably for the reason -that the third-class Italian opera company and the still worse French -vaudeville company, have refused to risk the lives of their actors. The -only thing to do at night is to go to one of the interminable _café -chantant_ shows. Galata has over fifty such establishments, and often -the programme lasts till daybreak. - -I entered one of them and for a moment I seemed to have gone suddenly -back to Berlin. German officers in uniform, other German people talking -loudly in front of huge glasses of beer, and a little orchestra of -Tsiganes playing Viennese tunes made my illusion almost complete. -The waiters were, of course, German, and the so-called artists, of -uncertain nationality, sang only German and Turkish songs. - -A _gommeuse_ risked a little Parisian refrain, but her voice was -drowned by the public hissing and shouting. The public began to sing -patriotic songs, and the girl only won her way back to public grace by -dancing a sort of furious cake-walk which seemed to please her audience -immensely. - -This number was followed by the great attraction of the programme--a -"revue," as it was pompously announced on the posters. - -The story of the play was highly symbolic; a young lady in feathers and -a three-coloured scarf (France) and her protector (Russia) tried to rob -a respectable gentleman and his wife (Germany and Austria). - -A struggle began, accompanied by lyric, which must have been highly -amusing and patriotic, as everybody clapped and laughed, while in the -background a Scotsman made a terrible noise, but kept away from the -fight. - -An Alma, with a fez on her black wig, rose at this moment from a pile -of cushions among which she had been lying while indulging in a quiet -smoke. At the sight of her Russia dropped to the floor, France did -the same, England flew away into the wings, and the three victorious -nations danced a sort of jig on a special _pot-pourri_ arranged from -the music of the three national anthems. - -This most idiotic pantomime was so highly appreciated that it was -completely repeated. At the conclusion the girl who played France -achieved a great personal success by coming out draped in the German -flag--to show that she was only impersonating France for stage -necessities, and that she was actually of true German feelings. - -The few Turks amongst the audience clapped enthusiastically, and, -in contravention of the Koran's laws, drank large glasses of beer, -probably in honour of their masters and protectors. - -Outside the night was full of stars, and at the eastern side of the -quiet Bosphorus a group of luminous spots showed the position of the -fleet going back into the Black Sea. One by one the lights disappeared, -hidden from sight by the thick woods of Therapia. - - * * * - -_November 5th._ - -The news that the Sultan is to review a large detachment of troops -leaving for the front, on the enormous drilling ground on the hill of -Pancaldi, fetches me out of bed very early this morning. - -When I reach the grounds a large convoy of troops tells me that the -Sultan must be coming. Numerous Zapties (Turkish _gendarmes_) are -pushing the crowd aside on the pavement. Now the Sultan arrives in a -closed coach preceded and followed by a number of other Zapties on -horseback. - -Everybody bows deeply, but the Sultan does not show himself. His -carriage drives between the double ranks of troops once only, and then -disappears under the large arch of the Artillery Barracks. - -The new Sultan is said to detest appearing in public. He has -abolished, for this reason, all the traditional ceremonies, all the -luxurious habits of the old Court, and lives quietly like a private -citizen in the Dolma-Bagtche-Serai. The wonderful palace of Abdul Hamid -on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus is much too imposing for his -simple taste. Mohamed the Fifth is neither loved nor hated; the Turkish -population simply ignores his existence. - -After the departure of the Sultan the troops get on with their drills. -There are about 10,000 infantrymen, fifty field guns, and not more than -a dozen pieces of Horse Artillery of a fairly old model. The field guns -are the famous ones bought from Krupp at the time of the Balkan War, -which arrived at Constantinople after the peace was concluded. - -At the back of the Artillery Barracks is a large Turkish cemetery in -which numerous tents have been erected to shelter the Asiatic troops -coming through Constantinople. A large and curious crowd watches the -dark-skinned, oily-haired soldiers cooking their own food or making, -with a sort of religious concentration, a drop of coffee in a copper -saucepan not larger than a small egg. - -Here is the German Embassy, where there is a great movement of Turkish -and German officers, and where a long line of motor-cars waits outside -the door. From the balcony over the main entrance hangs a picture of -the Kaiser and a large German flag. To the left side of the Embassy is -a powerful wireless station. - -This may be considered as the real War Office in Constantinople at the -present moment. Near the door, on a large blackboard, is exposed the -latest news from the theatres of war. - -Stringent police regulations allow nobody to pass near the wireless -station. - -I am just passing on, when a coach, similar to that one in which the -Sultan reviewed his troops, stops in front of the Embassy. A little man -in fez and morning coat alights. At the first glance I recognise him -as Enver Pasha. This was the only glance of Turkey's great man that I -could get during my stay in Constantinople. - -I walked down the great road of Pera, generally full of tourists, -motor-cars, and carriages, where smart European society in -Constantinople meets. - -Since last Sunday half of the few shops and hotels which were still -open have closed. The war has completely spoiled the most flourishing -of Pera's industries. - -A large building on the left-hand side, over which the Red Cross flag -waves, attracts my attention. It is the German school turned into a -hospital, and placed under the direction of Princess Najieh, Enver -Pasha's wife. Only a few years ago it would have been impossible to -imagine a Turkish woman doing useful work, still less nursing soldiers; -but now old Turkey is dying. - -The German ladies in Constantinople have organised another large -emergency hospital in the Skating Rink a few hundred yards lower down -the same street. Over a hundred wounded have already arrived from the -Russian frontier, I am told. All the Red Cross materials have been -ready here for a long time, and doctors and nurses came from Berlin -three or four days before the declaration of war. A curious coincidence -that they should know exactly when their services would be required! - -Down the great route of Pera, near the Tunnel, the crowd is getting -thicker, a crowd, as usual, composed almost exclusively of German or -Germanophile elements. Here is the German Club, the famous centre of -the Pan-German movement in Constantinople. - -I easily mix with some of the impromptu politicians; all the Germans in -Constantinople who are too old to bear arms try to do what they can for -the Fatherland by carrying out a sort of advertising campaign. They can -fight no more, but they can talk. - -In a few minutes I learn that the Russians are "no good"; that the -British Fleet was "all bluff"; that the French soldiers are "running -away like rabbits," and other interesting revelations. But my fat -little man, who is, I learn, the manager of the German Bazaar near -Andria's Passage, begins really to attract my attention when he -describes what will happen on the day of final German victory. - -"Austria will probably be added to the German Empire, together with -Hungary, Russian Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each would have the -present system of the German confederation, by which every State has -a certain autonomy but only one Emperor, one administration, and one -army. It will be the largest Empire ever seen since Napoleon, but we -are certain, with our organising capabilities, to be able to make it -last a long time. - -"Take Turkey! She is certainly the most practical nation in Europe; she -has seen that it was no use trying to resist us, and she has accepted -our quiet superiority. We are the brains, and she is the hands, and you -can be certain that it will be all the better for her to have taken -this step in time." - -"And what will happen afterwards to Constantinople?" - -"Oh! we shall always be friends with the Turks. They know our -superiority, and they respect us. It is really of no importance for us -to have Constantinople as long as we know that Russia will never be -able to have it." - -While my companion is telling me the modest German aspirations and the -future plans for the wholesale Germanisation of the world, we have -walked slowly across the Perchembe-Bazaar (Thursday's market). It is -market day, but the business is next to nothing. Most of the merchants -have not come at all, others are sitting philosophically amongst -mountains of carpets, embroideries, and potteries, waiting for the -customer who does not come. - -The Turkish commerce has such deep roots that it did not stop even -three years ago, when the Allied troops were a few miles from the -town. Now it is completely paralysed. - -Perhaps even the Turks begin to feel that the crisis is, this time, -bigger than ever before. - -Always chatting, we reach St. Peter's Church, and my attention is -attracted by a white marble tablet, on which I read: "André Chénier -naquit dans cette maison le 30 Octobre, 1762." Under it, on the brown -painted wall, one of his verses is written with chalk by a hand -evidently used to German characters:-- - - - "Ces Anglais, - Nation tout à vendre à qui peut la payer." - - -(England, the nation that always sells herself to the best bidder.) - -I wonder who is the learned German who knows Chénier's work well enough -to get out of it just the line which, in his opinion, suits the present -situation? - -I show the stone tablet to my companion, and he explains, very proud to -show me that he knows all about the poet of Charlotte. "Oh, yes, he -was a great Frenchman, and, of course, they have had him hanged." - -I don't insist on the fact that the poet-encyclopædist was not hanged, -but beheaded, and he goes on, "France could be really a great nation. -She has genius, she has initiative, but she does not know how to -organise her moral and material means, so as to get the maximum effort -out of them." - -I feel that he is going to describe to me what a wonderful nation -France would be under a German Government, so I leave him to his dreams -of megalomania. Let us hope he will wake up soon! - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -BULGARIA AND GREECE - - -Thanks to the kindness of a member of the Chilian Embassy, I managed to -get out of Constantinople in his car without having to wait my turn. -The booking-office at the Adrianople station was besieged by a crowd -impatient to leave the town, and a sleepy-looking clerk wrote down the -names, received the money for the tickets, and told the unfortunate -travellers to call in a couple of days, when he would perhaps be able -to let them know by which train they might leave. Some took the thing -philosophically, some tried to protest; but nobody, unless of Turkish -or German nationality, was allowed to travel by military trains. No -cars or vehicles of any kind were allowed on the road unless carrying -officials. - -We went across the theatre of Turkey's last war. At Tchataldja the -almost tropical vegetation has not yet returned to efface, or even to -disguise, the trenches, which were the last defence of Constantinople. - -"Here Turkey had her last close shave," laughingly said my driver. -"The next one will be more severe, I am afraid; for me, I should not -be surprised to see the Russians, or the English, or even both, here -before next summer." At Pavlo-Keni I left my courteous guide. - -After waiting a few hours in a dirty inn full of soldiers, of -pipe-smoke, and of the onion-like smell of Turkish cooking, I managed -to get a train to Dedeagatch. There another unpleasant surprise awaited -me. Bulgaria had two days ago closed her ports and no boat was allowed -to sail. - -Dedeagatch, the curious little town in which it seems impossible to -meet two people of the same nationality, so mixed are the races, the -costumes, the languages, does not show any signs of its recent change -of proprietorship. Dirt and dogs and rags are everywhere, as in a true -Turkish town. - -I remember an old journalist of wide Balkan experience and of great -wit, Vico Mantegazza, telling me two years ago: "You ask a Bulgarian -for his political ideas or the designs of his country's diplomacy, then -reverse his answer, and you will be just as near the truth as you will -ever get!" - -As a matter of fact, every Bulgarian I have had occasion to talk to, -lately, has told me a different tale. To some the enemy is Greece; -to others Serbia. At a few minutes' interval I was told, first, by -an officer, that Bulgaria wanted another fight with Turkey, "her -traditional enemy"--and then that Bulgaria's relations with Turkey had -been excellent since the last war, and would probably continue so for a -long time. - -The impression I received here was that the Austro-German influence is -very strong; Bulgaria is ruled by a German, the German language is -spoken and understood everywhere, and business life as well as private -life is strictly connected with Germany. I do not know if the charge -of ingratitude generally made against Bulgaria is true, but it seems -that the country has forgotten the times of the dreadful, century-long -Turkish domination and the help Russia always gave to Bulgaria, who -owes to the great Slav nation both her birth as an independent State -and her existence after the last war. - -The immoderate ambitions of the Bulgarian Government, ambitions of -increasing her territory and of becoming _the_ great nation of the -Balkans, has made her forget all this. It is certain that no mystery -is made in Bulgaria of her bitter feelings against Russia, feelings -reciprocated by Petrograd papers, which call the Bulgarians "the Balkan -Germans." - -The personal influence of King Ferdinand has been very strong; he has -Germanised his capital and most of the important towns of his nation, -and has tried to attenuate as much as possible the natural intercourse -of Bulgaria with the other Slav countries. - -The unnatural relations between Bulgaria and Serbia are a continuous -danger to the Entente. Bulgaria is certainly going to keep neutral for -some time, but supposing Serbia should one day suffer reverses on the -Austrian frontier, who could be sure of Bulgaria's attitude? - -The infatuation for the German-Austrian power is such that one often -hears sentences like this: "Germany and Austria united cannot be beaten -by any nation on earth." - -News here is practically all of the "made in Germany" type. At -Dedeagatch, besides a few Bulgarian papers, the only foreign papers -I could get were those of Berlin and Vienna. The successes of the -Serbians in the north do not please the Bulgarians; every day there are -incidents on both the Bulgarian and Greek frontiers. - -The day before I reached Dedeagatch two Bulgarian sentries had been -killed in a fight with Serbian sentries. Of course, such incidents, -which would lead to unavoidable international complications if they -happened on the frontier of a great European country, are here -considered as merely incidents, and one cannot base on them hurried -judgments and deductions. - -Regarding Great Britain, she has the sympathies of the Bulgarian -diplomacy, which is naturally inclined towards the nations who, like -England, protected the small Balkan States; but, I repeat, one feels -that Bulgaria will shake off her neutrality only when she sees the -chance of immediate gain in doing so, and in no case before having -waited a long time; time enough to see "how the cat jumps." - - * * * - -I have found him. - -I am not sorry for the uncomfortable journey; I am not sorry for the -days wasted, nor for having missed, for a few hours only, the weekly -boat from Salonika to Athens; for it was in a little town called -Drama, where I had to stop an hour or so, that I met the wonderful man. - -I bless a thousand times the hours of unspeakable boredom, the many -punishments for unlearned lessons, the terrific anxiety for the -examinations which worried my school days while learning the Greek -language, for it was in Tessalian dialect, which, luckily, is more -similar to old Greek than modern Greek itself, that my precious man -spoke. His existence has been denied by most. He has no equal in -England, I am sure, nor in Germany, nor in France, probably not one -in all Europe. He is more difficult to find than the white fly or the -black diamond of the old Oriental legends. If I had not been afraid of -trouble with the British police when I got back to England, I should -dare to write candidly that I am glad of Turkey's declaration of war -because, without it, I should never have gone to Drama and never have -met him. - -"_Him_" is the man who has never heard of the war. - -His look is like the look of any man a little over middle age; his -condition is corresponding to the condition of an English gentleman -farmer; his education is certainly far superior to the education of an -ordinary middle-class man. He knows and still reads daily a few pages -of his favourite classic works Homer, Anacreon, Hesiod. He does not -read newspapers. - -I didn't realise my luck until we had talked a quarter of an hour--at -least, struggled hard to do so. - -"And what do you think of the war?" I asked him at a certain moment. - -"The war! Which war?" - -"Yes, the big war; the war between England, France, Russia, and Serbia -on one side and Germany and----" - -"Is there such a war? But why? What for?" - -Then it was my turn to be perplexed. The "Why?" was already a difficult -question, which would have required half an hour to be answered -properly; as for the "What for?" I had absolutely no reason to give -the old man. Who knows exactly what for? However, I tried to condense -my answer in a word. "Jealousy, you know," I said after a moment. - -"Jealousy! Just like at the time of Helen of Troy!" commented my -learned partner. - -"Yes, just about it." - -"I didn't think people could still be such fools! When we last heard of -war here it was two years ago. Well, the Turks have gone, the Greeks -have come, and things are exactly like they were before, only we have -to pay more taxes. I suppose the same will happen over there." - -"I am afraid so, too." - -"And who is winning? How long is it going to last? What will be the -result?" - -"I really cannot tell you all this," I had to admit. - -"You don't seem to know much more about it than I do," he said in -conclusion, and, after a few seconds, in a relieved tone of voice, -which clearly meant "Let us go back to an interesting subject:--" - -"Have you ever read Æschylus's _Persians_?" - - * * * - -I had decided to take the boat at Salonika for Athens, so I took the -train from Dedeagatch to Salonika. A three hours' stop near Porto Lagos -made me realise that it was impossible to reach Salonika in time, so I -got out of the train at Drama,[1] and from there, on a dreadful little -two-wheeler, a sort of Irish jaunting-car pulled by a horse as thin as -a horse can possibly be, I made my way to Kavala, just in time to catch -the boat which was to take me back to the civilised world. - -I shall never forget my ride to Kavala. I promised a generous tip to -the _auriga_ provided he went at full speed. The little horse, under -the whip used incessantly by the young man, seemed converted into one -of the fantastic animals of the French _chansons de geste_. With neck -outstretched, the long mane loose to the wind, he took to a furious -gallop, nor did he stop until we reached our destination. The road, if -road it can be called, was full of stones and deep cart-ruts, now muddy -and now dusty, uneven, and terribly steep. We were crossing the land on -which the battle of Philippi was fought. Even now the country retained -a sort of tragic look. Not a single house, not a single tree; nothing -but stones and bare soil. The sun was hiding slowly behind the hills of -Sérès. The great battlefield appeared to me under a sky covered with -black clouds edged with scarlet on a sunset of deep orange. And yet -this battlefield, the memory of which has lasted so strongly after two -thousand years, has swallowed less life than any of the battles of the -present war! - -I believe optimists call this human progress.... - - * * * - -Travelling on the boat was really leisure; the waters at the side ran -so slow that often they gave the impression that we were not moving at -all. - -The _Stagyra_ was a little cargo boat of Roumanian nationality. I was -the only passenger on board, and the crew spoke only Roumanian and a -few words of Levantine, picked up during their continuous trips to Asia -Minor. The captain fancied himself as a French scholar, but it was very -hard to understand him, and still more to be understood. - -We left Kavala at night, and should not reach Pireus for nearly two -days. - -We passed the Isle of Athos and its twenty white convents, inhabited by -over a thousand monks. A number of Greeks, who were forced to escape -from Turkey, have found asylum in the large dormitories generally -offered by the convents to visitors to the Peninsula. A little plume of -grey smoke appeared on the horizon, and a few minutes later I could see -through the captain's glasses a Greek torpedo-boat, which signalled us -to stop. An officer, with a dozen blue-jackets, came on board, looked -at the cargo, at the board books, at my passport, and when he saw I -came from Constantinople said in excellent French, "Hope we are going -against them soon. It is about time to finish the Turks, in Europe at -least. I consider the Turkish intervention fortunate. We can now settle -the Constantinople question together with all the others. If Turkey had -not moved another war would have been necessary afterwards." - -He left our boat, and the Greek torpedo-boat signalled to a few other -Greek warships, which we could see in the distance, that everything was -all right and that we could go ahead. - - * * * - -I happened never to have visited Athens when Greece was at war, and I -really don't know what the town must have looked like then, since now -while she is still neutral the capital shows such excitement, such -anxious feelings, and such general nervousness--far greater than that -shown by London, Paris, or Berlin. - -Greece feels that she has to go to war again; the two questions of -Northern Epirus and of the islands are still waiting solution, and the -provocation of Turkey is such that war is bound to break out. - -Athens, as well as most towns of Greece, is full of refugees, -especially from Asia Minor. Boycott, requisition, confiscation, -and forcible recruiting have made it necessary for nearly all the -Greeks, who are the only Christians in the Peninsula, to fly to -their Motherland. Their property has been taken by the Turks and -often destroyed. Some of the refugees tell the most dreadful tales -of abominable cruelty and violence. Torture and death are daily -inflicted on Greek subjects by the Mahomedan mob excited by the Turkish -officials, who allow all such crimes to be committed with impunity. - -The patience of Greece is nearly exhausted, and especially in the -army the feeling that something must be done as soon as possible is -increasing every day. - -Curiously enough, while Turkey seems to be carrying out a regular -programme of provocation towards Greece, every time Turkey goes too far -and Greece is feared to be about to take up arms, Austria and Germany -try to stop her by forcing Turkey to apologise humbly. - -Since the war began, a wonderfully organised German propaganda has been -set in motion, not in Athens only, but in all Greek towns. Germany -purposed by so doing to capture Greek public opinion, and also the -sympathies of the countries in which the Greek element is predominant, -namely, some parts of Turkey and Egypt. The Wolff Agency overwhelms -Greece with _communiqués_, news guaranteed to be true, and despatches -from Berlin; a tremendous number of German professors, who have spent -years and years in Greece, studying and searching every inch of Greek -soil, wrote from the Fatherland to all their friends and acquaintances -the most fetching letters, and, lately, news in Greek was printed in -Berlin and sent free of charge to every influential person in Greece. -The _Philadelphia_, the German club in the rue d'Homère, has become the -centre of such propaganda, and every night there are lectures, kinema -shows, etc., to which, as the posters say, "everybody is cordially -invited." - -I went out of curiosity to one of these lectures; the audience was not -very large, and was mostly composed of Germans. "You know what would -happen should the Entente win; which, of course, is almost impossible. -Russia would reach the Ægean Sea, the Slavs would be ultra-powerful in -the Adriatic, and Greece would never have a chance of fulfilling her -aspirations. - -"And about England--has Greece forgotten the quarrels with Palmerston -and Disraeli?" - -The German propaganda is specially conducted against England, France's -interests in the Near East being of little importance, and German -people being very annoyed at the very friendly feeling held by Greece -towards Great Britain. - -I don't know, for instance, what the numerous German agents felt like -at seeing in Athens the most popular of picture-postcards, on which a -sentence from a book of Rhaïdes has been reprinted: "Whatever may be -the adventures of war, England is always certain to win one battle; -namely, the last one." - -The confidence of Greece in Great Britain is almost unlimited, and the -efforts of Germany to diminish it leads to the opposite result. - -During the last year the Greek Army has made enormous progress; the -new populations recently annexed have given to Greece an excellent -supply of men, out of whom capable and well-trained officers have made -some really efficient troops. Cavalry and artillery have also been -increased, and new guns have been purchased at Krupps and Creuzot. The -same can be said of the Navy, though two new Dreadnoughts, which were -being constructed in Germany and France, are not likely to be delivered -now. - -The aerial services are also being reorganised, and recently some new -aeroplanes were bought in Italy, and it is said that shortly Greece -will also have some large modern dirigibles. - -The merit of such important reforms belongs especially to King -Constantine himself, who remained Commander-in-Chief of the Army even -after his assumption of the throne. He understood that the next war -would be the decisive one for Greece, and with wonderful activity he -has managed to bring his country to the height of the situation. - - * * * - -_On board the Stagyra._ - -It is really most refreshing, after having visited a country like -Turkey, to spend a few hours in Athens. Everything here seems young -and fresh and full of vitality. It seems as though the spirit of the -golden times of old Greece has suddenly returned after a long period -of torpor. - -The _Stagyra_ has just left harbour, and is now sailing in the Ionian -Sea. - -A French cruiser has just approached our boat, and has told us to be -careful, as floating mines have often been found in this locality -during the last few weeks, and now makes her way at our side. Only -yesterday, I am told, a Corfu sailing boat had been sunk by a mine, and -only two of the crew were saved. - -I have been on deck as much as possible because of the scenery, and -also because of the fearful smell downstairs. The Roumanian captain is -at my side and keeps telling me his worries; this is probably the last -journey of the _Stagyra_, as he has no hope of being able to go back to -Constanza now the Straits are closed and there is war in the Black Sea. - -"And what are you going to do, now, when you have reached Marseilles, -if you can't go back to your country?" - -"My men and I have already decided to enlist in France. We are all -well-trained and very good shots." - -He answered as if this was the most natural thing to do. - - * * * - -It is just daybreak, and we are going through the Strait of Messina. -At our side, instead of the French cruiser, which has left us upon our -entering Italian territorial waters, is now the imposing mass of an -Italian warship, the _Vittor Pisani_, anchored in the bay. - -On the Sicilian coast Messina smiles, surrounded by woods of oranges -loaded with golden fruit. After the terrible catastrophe of four -years ago, the former monumental town has assumed the quiet, modest, -village-like look of a Japanese seaport. - -How far removed we are from those moments when the brute forces of -Nature made all nations on earth meet here to relieve the sorrow of the -stricken country in the noblest of competitions, and gave the world -the momentary illusion of a wide sense of brotherhood amongst all -peoples. - -Still, even now, by the side of the Union Jack which floats over the -English relief-fund building, the tricolour of Germany waves to the -morning breeze. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[1] Where I had the fortune to come across the man who had never heard -of the war. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -MY SECOND WAR-TIME VISIT TO BERLIN - - -_December 22._ - -I am just back from my second war-time trip to Berlin. It is about ten -weeks since I was last in the German capital, and during the interval a -big change has come over the city. - -Less cheering, less flag-waving, less enthusiasm; the Berliners still -tell you that everything is going on all right, the papers are still -very optimistic, the short official bulletins keep very dark any bad -news and magnify what is good, but the atmosphere is different and one -feels the change in almost everything. - -I arrived in Berlin on the day the German Pacific Squadron was sunk by -British ships. Since the sinking of the _Emden_ nobody in Germany dared -hope for any better destiny for the other ships on the high seas. They -realised that all they could expect was to cause as large a loss of -life as possible on the English vessels before going to their fate. - -The news of the affair off the Falkland Islands greatly impressed -Berlin. - -It had not been expected that the British naval authorities would act -so quickly and at one blow demolish a force whose destructiveness had -given the people to hope that a longer life was in store for it. - -A remarkable thing is that, though Berlin got to know of the -destruction of the four ships only through English sources, the Berlin -papers printed it before it was published in London. - -The _Lokal-Anzeiger_ gave the news in a few lines as sent by a -special correspondent in London. It was only last Tuesday, when I -saw the English papers in Switzerland, that I realised that the -_Lokal-Anzeiger_ had been able to print the news in Berlin before the -Press Bureau had given it out in London. - -In this case the fact has no importance, but does it not show that -Germany has still a wonderful information service and telegraph wire or -wireless communication with London? - -Since last Sunday it was known in Berlin that some sort of raid was -to be attempted on the eastern shores of Britain, and that this first -appearance of the German fleet would be followed by numerous other -visits in different parts of the English, Scotch, and Irish coasts. - -Then one fine day Germany might attempt to disembark a few thousand -men, who, of course, would be killed or taken prisoners, but it is -thought in Berlin that such a landing will stop England sending troops -to the Continent and probably force her to recall some of the troops -she has already sent there. - -My informant said that the Germans would probably make their first -appearance on the British coast very soon and that afterwards a -regular programme of raids, both by sea and by air, was to be carried -out. - -I am sorry I was not in Berlin when the news of the bombardment of -Scarborough was served out to the good Berlin people. The papers will -no doubt have magnified its effects to cheer up the population, which -seems to need it badly. - -Most people there seem very keen on bringing the war to English -territory, and if this was not done before it was only because it -was feared that such a raid would act as a tonic on recruiting, or -even give the last blow to England's traditional form of voluntary -recruiting. - -Now, however, the desire to attack British shores has become more -and more pronounced, as the continuously increasing figures of Lord -Kitchener's Army, regularly sent to Germany by her informers, have -dispelled the illusion that the mass of British people were indifferent -to the war. - -Though ignorant people seemed to believe in a probable German invasion -of one or another part of England, in military circles in Germany it -is realised that it is absolutely impossible, and the raids which will -take place on the British coast are only meant to plunge the population -into panic and to force the British Government to keep troops in -England instead of sending them to the Continent. - -The feelings of the capital are very complex; disillusion caused by -the campaign in France lasting so long without any apparent progress, -sorrow for the enormous number of lives lost, hate for every nation on -earth save Turkey, and especially for Great Britain. - -At first everybody was absolutely certain that the German Army would -take all things by storm, that its superiority was sufficient to smash -any resistance in a few weeks. Now, however, the Berlin people are -beginning to realise that they have been deceived in this respect. - -I don't mean to say that Berlin's people, at least the people in the -street, realise that things are going badly nor that they are giving -up hope--that would not be true. They still believe in a final victory -for Germany, but they don't seem to be as certain as they were before. -They are getting rather tired of the length of the war. - -I can confirm everything that has been written about the hate of -England. England is called the "jealous, cowardly country," and all -sorts of insulting names, unjustified either by historical or political -precedents. What is absolutely certain is that Russia and France are -not hated half as much as the English are. - -Curiously enough, this hate, which is very moderate in the military -class, and not too strong among commercial and industrial people, who -have always considered Great Britain as one of their best customers -and who are longing to start trading with her again when the war is -over, reaches the highest possible degree of violence amongst the upper -classes, the sedentary men of the laboratories, the "Professoren," -pride and, in former times, amusement of Germany herself. - -"We have been very humane up to now; we have not killed half the men we -could; we have not destroyed half the towns it would have been easy for -us to destroy," said to me a quiet-looking little man with gold-rimmed -spectacles and a white beard, who has for years occupied a high -position at the foreign office, "but if we ever manage to reach England -in force we shall respect nothing. We shall fully justify that name of -Hun which British papers seem so fond of giving us." - -This official, who belongs to a class of people who should really know -how things are, is so blinded by hate for England that he cannot even -detect the monstrosity of this statement. - -I always thought the spy mania in England exaggerated, but now I am -absolutely persuaded that even those Englishmen who recognise this -peril do not realise the lengths to which it goes. - -They have been suspecting waiters and servants, while the spies are in -high social positions; they have contented themselves with searching -the houses of German barbers and grocers whilst neglecting the heads -who collect and forward to Berlin the information gathered by more -humble satellites. - -It is very sad to have to say such things, but I think the most -dangerous spies still in England are not Germans, whether naturalised -or not, but are people belonging to neutral countries--even to -countries actually fighting Germany--and subjects of Great Britain -herself. - -I would not have written this if I was not sure of it; the diplomat -from whom I got the information assured me that there are some English -and French of both sexes who come regularly to Berlin or to frontier -towns through neutral countries and have conversations with officials -and then return. - -The restrictions as to luggage and passports, both in France and in -England, are not half as severe as they should be; they are even -slacker than at the beginning of the war. I know personally of a number -of stolen American passports under the shelter of which German spies -are now travelling, and an Italian Consul with whom I happened to -travel a few days ago said he had discovered two fellows with false -Italian passports almost perfectly imitated. - -In Berlin I heard people, well-informed people, saying that in every -English town of importance, on every spot of strategical value on the -British coast, Germany has got _a few friends_ keeping their eyes open -and ready to receive an eventual German raid and to lend their friends -as strong a hand as possible. - - * * * - -The first morning I woke up in Berlin I could not help feeling a -bit nervous. The small hotel I had chosen in the Tiergarten was a -few minutes away from the Kaiserhof theatre of my rather unpleasant -adventures during my first war-time visit to Berlin. - -I knew that some quotations from my newspaper articles had appeared in -the German papers, and I was certain that the police, who, in Berlin, -are wonderfully well organised, had managed to identify the man who -had written them with the man who had awakened their vigilance a week -before the articles appeared. - -It was true that this time I had entered Germany through Switzerland, -and that they would never think that a British newspaper correspondent -would take the trouble to go all that way round. I could not help -realising, however, how awkward my position would be if I were to meet -face to face in a Berlin street one of the men who had arrested me two -months before. - -The little dreary devil who hides himself at the bottom of every human -being's mind impelled me to go straight down the Leipziger-place to -Wilhelmstrasse, and from there to the Linden, the very parts of Berlin -where danger for me was greatest. - -I was impressed by one great change at once; two months ago the streets -were full of soldiers idling about amongst the slow-moving crowd. Now I -had to walk half-an-hour before I met a single military uniform, and -that was worn by a wounded soldier. Evidently the contingent of troops -which had been kept waiting in Berlin had been poured on to the Russian -frontier. - -As a protest against French and English fashions, the German -dressmakers are trying to make German ladies adopt all-German fashions; -the shop windows are full of dummies dressed in impossible clothes of -stiff, cheap-looking materials. The ladies' hats are in the flat, round -shape of the Bavarian peasant woman. - -Some of the shops show what they call evening gowns, and touch the -extreme of bad taste with curious creations of a half-religious, -half-pantomime-like character. But I have never seen anyone wearing -these horrors. - -Horse vehicles were much scarcer. When the war broke out Germany -thought she could get any amount of horses out of Norway, Sweden, -Denmark, and Holland, but these nations could only send a few -thousand animals, and Germany was in a terrible plight, as she needed -immediately about twenty thousand. Then she tried to get horses from -Austria and Hungary, but owing to the food and the bad quality of the -water the greater part of these animals fell sick or died. Lastly, -Germany had to take for military purposes all the horses she could find -in Germany and Belgium--even those which had formerly been judged unfit -for military service. - -Taxi-cabs have reappeared in fairly large numbers. - -The shortage of petrol, arising from the Russian occupation of Galicia, -has been a very severe blow for Germany, especially when one considers -that the enormous special reservoirs constructed in all the German -ports for the storage of large quantities of the precious liquid were -expecting large supplies when the war broke out--supplies which were -never delivered. - -All the petrol left in the country was seized by the Government for -the use of military motor-cars, aeroplanes, and Zeppelins. Lately the -rather serious situation was cleverly dealt with by extracting from -coal in a new, cheap and quick way a liquid called benzol, which is a -fairly good substitute for petrol, but which smells horribly when used -and requires a lot of work to keep the engines clean. - -The coal from which benzol has been extracted is converted into coke, -and now German railways, works, and private householders are using -solely this kind of fuel. The supply of coal is not plentiful, but up -to now sufficient, thanks to the strict economy observed by the German -people. - -Berlin street illumination has been very much reduced on this account, -while in some other German towns it has been completely suppressed. - -The number of temporary hospitals has increased enormously. I counted -more than thirty houses in Unter den Linden alone over which the Red -Cross flag flew. These house hospitals depend partly on the large -hospitals for support, and are partly kept up by private charity. - -As most of the trained nurses are at the front, there is generally only -an old nurse as matron, and under her command a number of ladies do all -the work without the help of servants. The large hospitals have no more -room for new beds. Doctors are very scarce, and those left seem to be -working very hard. - -Owing to the German habit of keeping ambulances right in the firing -line the losses amongst doctors have been enormous, and fresh ones are -continually required for active service. - -I had occasion to talk to a doctor who was just back from the front for -the purpose of organising a new Red Cross column for work in Poland. - -"We try to operate as little as possible," he said. "During the last -two months we have not made a single amputation, as we believe that it -is a crime to take even a finger from a man if it is not absolutely -indispensable to do so. - -"The wounded are in enormous numbers, most of them suffering from -wounds caused by their being struck by shrapnel or scraps of shell. It -is almost impossible to deal with such cases immediately, and we send -them back, after temporarily bandaging them, to Germany. During the -last fights on the Yser and near Ypres even the rifle wounds were often -infected. - -"The wounded had to lie for hours, and often for days, in the trenches -or on the battlefield before they could be removed. - -"The downpour of shrapnel bullets from the artillery gave us no time -to take the wounded to the nearest Red Cross department. In such -conditions cases of lock-jaw are fairly common, but luckily up to the -time I left the front there were no cases of infectious disease." - -"It has been said there have been some cases of cholera in your army?" - -"Yes, we had a few cases, not amongst German troops, but amongst the -Austrians who are fighting with us in Belgium. We have organised a few -large special hospitals for such diseases, as we expect that we shall -have more infectious cases when the winter is over." - -"Do you have many English, French, and Russian wounded in your -hospitals?" - -"Not many. We don't keep them in the same hospitals with our -own soldiers. Generally we send them down straight away to the -concentration camps, where there are always infirmaries, and in these -they are cured." - -I don't know if the impression of dullness I got from this visit to -Berlin is due solely to what I have seen and heard or whether it is -partly due to the weather. During the five days I was there it rained -without interruption. The town was completely washed by heavy showers, -which hardly ever stopped. - -In such weather the only thing to do was to sit and talk. In the -numerous cafés women and old men were constantly talking and reading -newspapers and letters from the front to each other and discussing the -next German move. Apparently the wish of the whole of Germany is now -the capture of Warsaw; they give to the Russian theatre of operations -an importance which was formerly reserved for the western theatre. They -consider the war in Flanders as a sort of siege war, refuse to believe -in an offensive movement of the Allies there, and want to go for Russia -before it is too late. - -Berlin seems to need a sort of formula, something to shout out, an -immediate object to achieve; but the newspapers engaged in supplying a -popular cry seem to be rather unhappy in their choice. At the beginning -of the war the cry was "To Paris"; later on "To Calais" seemed to -satisfy German public opinions; now everybody shouts "To Warsaw." - -The fact that the two former wishes were not fulfilled does not seem to -matter much. Not only that, but every good man in the street will tell -you that the march to Paris and the march on Calais are only postponed. - -The almost unlimited confidence of German people in their army has -certainly been shaken during the last few months, and though nobody -will frankly admit that things are going badly, I have observed a -difference between the way they used to talk and the way they talk now. - -I do not want to be misunderstood; if a Berliner is asked directly, "Do -you think you are going to win?" the answer will come pat, "Yes, we -are certain of it." But if you go on talking you will detect from the -way in which the man tries to avoid certain subjects, and how he sighs -when some others--namely, the Navy and the Crown Prince--come into the -discussion, that the beautiful assurance of former days is gone, and -that some small cracks in the war organisation begin to be evident -even to his eyes. He begins to doubt the prestige of the German army, -the destiny of the German race, and the perfection of the military -organisation of his country. It is not a question of colour, but of -shade, and it is evident that something has changed. - -As for the officers, the men of the upper classes, and the people who -have realised since the beginning of the war how hard was the task -Germany had undertaken, they go ahead in their military, diplomatic, -or simply private work, not daring to look too far. They prefer to die, -to disappear before the downfall of their country. It is impossible not -to admire them. Most of the officers of Bavarian or Silesian descent -are fighting for those who have formerly been their oppressors, and -for the supremacy of that Prussia which has killed the independence of -their country. - -Yet they are sacrificing themselves in a war about the final result of -which very few entertain illusions. - -The officers and non-commissioned officers who were injured at the -beginning of the campaign, and who are so mutilated that they would -be of no use at the front, are drilling the new recruits, or making -themselves as useful as they can. But practically none have left the -army or even taken a temporary leave. - -A friend of mine whom I visited in hospital ten weeks ago has now -had his foot amputated. But his spirit is not crushed, and he is now -drilling recruits at a fortress near Stettin. - -Everybody feels Germany cannot waste a single man. Most young men who -had been refused for physical imperfections in former years have now -been accepted. The fact that most classes of the Landsturm have not -been called up yet does not mean that there is no need for them, but -only that they are composed of men who, on account of their age and -lack of experience and fitness would be of no practical efficiency on -the battlefield. - -I saw in Berlin some sturdy, strong-looking chaps who looked quite fit -to bear arms still in mufti and attending to their usual professions. I -asked an officer the reason of this astonishing fact. - -"Don't you believe it," he answered me smiling; "such fellows follow -an employment which must be covered even in wartime, namely, a job -in one of the war-office departments, or else they are not as fit as -they look and for some reason or other would be of no use to the army. -Besides that, all fit men are as keen on serving in the army as we are -in taking them up." - -To one who knows how reserved and silent German people generally are, -at least with foreigners, about their Government, their diplomacy, and -especially about the sacred person of their Emperor, the free way in -which they discuss them now is really astounding. - -"Our army has been a success," said the same officer to me when asked -what he thought of the conduct of the war, "but our diplomacy has -proved _un ratage complet_; everything has been arranged clumsily -before the war broke out, and managed still more clumsily since then. -Our diplomats seem busy making mistake after mistake; we have lost the -sympathies of all countries on earth, even of those who were formerly -our friends. If we are to have peace on favourable conditions, our arms -must win it on the battlefield, because our diplomacy will not be able -to. After Algeciras our diplomacy seems to have lost completely even -the bluff qualities which marked her last success." - -The Kaiser now begins to be discussed, and I heard more than once this -definition of His Imperial Majesty: "A man good enough in peace-time, -but hardly capable of bearing the responsibilities or of carrying out -alone and successfully the task he has lately undertaken." - -The English cartoonists show us every German soldier weighed down by a -large iron cross hanging from his neck; in real life the thing is just -as bad as in caricature. One often sees groups of fifteen or twenty men -every one of whom shows the large square piece of blackened tin hanging -from the third button-hole of his grey-green uniform. It is as though -the iron cross, instead of being a decoration, was an indispensable -accessory of the uniform. - -I have seen two battalions of the new recruits coming back from drill -to their barracks on the Spree; some of the soldiers did not look -more than sixteen, they were headed by a very old captain of the -Landsturm and accompanied by a few officers--all old men (I have seen -a lieutenant who was probably sixty-five). - -Those who were not aged were suffering from recent wounds. A lieutenant -who had evidently been struck by a bullet in the knee, limped painfully -at their side, leaning on a stick, his right sleeve hanging empty from -his shoulder. He was the only one in the column who smiled cheerfully, -and the crowd in the streets looked at him with admiration, while some -old men raised their hats. - -A curious crowd indeed, this of Berlin. Women and children composed a -very large part of it, and the number of people in mourning was really -astonishing, far more than I saw in Paris or Vienna. Some people were -wearing a white and red armlet or a band crosswise with the number of -the regiment to which the man who died used to belong. An old lady was -wearing the band with the number of a regiment repeated three times on -it. She had lost three sons who were all in the same regiment. - -The proprietress of the hotel at which I was staying had lost a son in -France and another was lying wounded in a hospital in Belgium. - -"The one who died," she said, "had been in England for over four years, -and was here taking a holiday when the war broke out. He always used to -say that he liked England better than his own country, and yet he had -to go. He was killed by an English bullet." - -Her story was interrupted by an unrestrained sob, and she went on: -"The one in Belgium is very, very bad, and they say that (even should -he live) he will be blind for life. I have got two more sons fighting -down there. God knows if they will ever come back," concluded the poor -woman, crying hopelessly. - -The mothers, whether they be English or German, whether they sit in a -factory or work in a mill, are always the first to bear the privations -of war. Yet in Germany they are bearing these privations nobly indeed. -The courage of their women is an example to the world. - - * * * - -The few police agents still to be seen in the streets of Berlin are -standing outside military and public buildings. They are old men -already out of service, called back as substitutes for the policemen, -who were all converted into soldiers and sent to the front. Naturally -the police service, which was one of the best in the world, has lost -most of its efficiency--luckily for me perhaps! - -In the Tiergarten large posters hang on the trees, saying that owing to -the mobilisation of the police force for active service, the lovers of -romantic walks at night (one of Berlin's favourite pastimes) will have -to look after themselves, and that the corporation has not enough men -to carry on a service of police after midnight. - -The first effect of this is the enormous number of beggars in Berlin -streets--women and children, and old and crippled men--standing at -the street corners, or sitting in long rows on the outer steps of -churches, and telling long tales of husbands, fathers, sons at the war, -of miseries of every kind. Even about this, the Berlin Corporation, -always fond of giving tips to the public, has issued another -proclamation, which reads:-- - - - Don't give anything to people in the streets asking for help. - Nobody starves in Berlin. There are free distributions of bread, - soup, and potatoes in all quarters of the town. The money you can - spare for charity should be sent to the Relief Committee; this - will ensure that such institutions are kept going. The beggars are - only trying to make money out of your sympathy, and their tales of - misfortune, in most cases, are absolutely false. - - -Unemployment seems to have increased enormously, especially for women, -owing to the fact that most manufacturers have closed down their works, -either for lack of raw material or for lack of demand. In some other -industries where women cannot take the place of men workers are badly -needed. I have been told that unemployment is even greater in the -northern towns. The toy-making and fancy goods industries are almost -entirely stopped, as the stores are full of goods prepared for the -usual exportation, which is, this year, entirely paralysed. - -Paper, wool, metal, and wooden industries no longer receive their usual -supplies of raw material; and though articles manufactured of these are -badly needed, the works have had to close. - -Metals have increased enormously in price, and all the reserves of -so-called noble metals, and also of nickel, etc., were requisitioned by -the military authorities. Such metals are indispensable in the making -of new guns, and also for repairing the old ones put out of action by -long usage. Lead is also very much dearer than usual, and everybody -is instructed to take down old gas and water pipes and to bring them -to special depôts, at which the metal is bought by weight at standard -prices, to be forwarded to military works, where it is converted into -bullets. - -As for copper, a few old mines which had been given up forty years -since because they did not pay when the metal could be imported freely, -have been reopened with success and give employment to some of the -out-of-work folk. - -Bread, except in the Zucker-Baeckereien, which are not forced to sell -at standard prices, is getting very scarce, and all bakers study every -possible way to make it as heavy and as economic as possible. - -Wheat and other cereals, all equally scarce, have been seized by the -Government, which lets the different bakers have so much a week and -gives instructions about bread substitutes and the methods of making -them as healthful and nourishing as possible. The Government also -recommends the baker to make his wares as little appetising as possible -so that people should not eat too much out of _Feinsmecherei_--gluttony. - -The last quality, if not the other two, is certainly prominent in the -German bread I have seen. - -Though bread is not the most important part of the daily food of the -German population, and though in many provinces potatoes have almost -completely taken its place, yet the problem is very serious, and -Germany tries to face it in all possible ways. Large quantities of -wheat have been imported from Roumania, and potatoes, dried peas, etc., -from Switzerland. - -Through Holland, Germany still gets a certain amount of fruit, beef, -and cheese. Special stores have been arranged for the preservation in -good condition of perishable goods for a fairly long time. - -Good Munich beer is now a luxury obtainable only in a few high-class -establishments. The materials, which usually come from Russia, are -naturally all stopped; moreover, the strong young fellows who generally -work in the large breweries are now at the front. It would not be -surprising in a few months to see Germany reduced to drinking aerated -waters. - -Upon reflection I think I must be wrong, however, for there is now in -Germany plenty of champagne--champagne of German make, which is sold at -very low prices, and excellent French champagne of the best brand, sold -a lot cheaper than it was ever possible to buy it, even in France. - -A large shop in Unter den Linden displayed a window full of "Mumm," -"Clicquot," "Pommery," and practically all other first-class champagnes -at five marks (five shillings) a bottle. In the middle of the window -was a large poster saying that here was a unique opportunity, and that -every Berliner must have on his Christmas dinner table a bottle of good -French champagne to drink the health of the Kaiser. This is probably -the first effect of the wholesale sack of Rheims. To obtain such a -noble result even the shelling of the cathedral was not too much. - -I was struck by the enormous number of children in the street. The -first time I observed this I thought that I was near a school and that -the children were just coming out; later on I saw that it was the same -everywhere. I very often saw a lady with ten or twelve children, as -though she were taking a whole school for a walk. - -The explanation is that children from the towns and villages near the -Russian frontier have been sent to Berlin; a great number have arrived -also from Galicia. The schools are all closed, and the children thus -left free all day long. - - * * * - -I have said that the Berliners have been taken by a sort of mania which -makes them detest everybody on earth who has not the great fortune to -be born a German subject. I was not quite right. - -If, besides the enemy she is fighting, Germany loathes Italy for -having deserted her and also for having taken Valona (the Albanian -port which Germany meant to offer Italy as a bribe for neutrality), -America for supporting Belgium and sending ammunition to the Entente, -Austria for not doing well enough, etc., she has still a place in her -well-protected heart for one tender love. The lucky country which -occupies this position is Turkey. Everyone in Berlin talks of the Turks -as the best soldiers in the world (always excepting the Germans, of -course). Enver Pasha is considered one of the best servants of the -Kaiser. - -Turkey has taken the place of Italy in the defunct Triple Alliance. -In the streets of Berlin I saw quite a number of fez, only a few of -them worn by Turks. The others were worn by children or by the plump -beauties of the German capital, amongst whom the fez is perhaps even -more popular than is the "Tipperary" cap over here. - -Everybody seems to have great hopes in Turkish co-operation. There is -a little disappointment over Egypt, Algeria, and Tunis, because they -have not awakened yet; but it is hoped that they will do so in a few -weeks. I don't believe that military circles are as optimistic as are -the general public about Turkish help. - -An officer told me that the action of the fleets in the Black Sea had -to be postponed owing to damage to two of the units of the Turco-German -Fleet. The transport of Turkish troops from Asia Minor to Egypt had -been promised in an endeavour to make a Pan-Islamic war, but it -would be very difficult to carry out such a scheme. He said it was -not unlikely that a certain contingent of Turkish troops, especially -cavalry, would be brought to Germany next spring. - -Curiously enough, this love for Turkey is not extended to Austria, -which country, after all, has already made the biggest sacrifices in -this war. - -I saw many wounded Austrian officers in Berlin. Apparently more -Austrian troops will arrive shortly in Germany. It seems that more -cavalry is urgently needed for the operations in the East. - -One evening I was sitting in my stall at the Lessing Theater, where a -boring "1870" drama had been revived; in front of me were two Austrian -officers, while at my side some German people were discussing the war. -They were speaking loudly about the battle in Galicia, and passed many -untactful remarks, evidently meant to be heard by the Austrians. They -carried this to such a length that the two officers left their seats -and walked out. - -Listening to other people's conversations is certainly the best way of -getting unsophisticated impressions of what they think, as when they -know they are talking to a foreigner their Chauvinism makes them speak -in a more optimistic way. - -"We cannot keep on for ever racing our troops from west to east; if -we do not obtain a success now in Flanders, I don't know what will -happen afterwards when England sends her new troops," said one of the -theatre-goers. - -"Don't be frightened," said another, "she will want to keep too many -soldiers at home to defend her own coasts. I think the danger is now -on the eastern side, and that we had better go ahead there as far as -possible; who knows if we leave the Russians alone, how many men they -will concentrate there?" - -"Well, I only hope it will soon be over, otherwise we shall all be -ruined," said an old man, evidently belonging to the shopkeeper class. - -"It will all be over in a year." - -"In six months." - -"You are wrong, it will be over in four months. The war cannot last -more than that; the Tribunal of Brunswick having to call a witness in -a case, and the witness being at the front, decided that the witness -being detained by an engagement of uncertain duration, the cause should -be called again in four months. Evidently the war cannot last longer -than that." - -Everybody laughed at this typically German joke, but I am afraid the -Brunswick magistrate will have to adjourn the case for many a four -months, even if the Court has not to renounce the witness completely. - -The night life of Berlin, which had struck me so much ten weeks ago, -may be considered now as dead. The cabarets are closed, not by the -police, but from the lack of male customers. Of the theatres only the -Lessing, the Schiller, and the Neues Schauspielhaus are still open; -the music-halls have reduced their prices and are arranging special -patriotic shows to attract the public, but their efforts do not seem to -have succeeded, and almost every week some of them close to reopen no -more. - -The great amusement of Berlin is the cinema, where really wonderful -pictures are shown. Most of the pictures are faked; but they are so -cleverly done that the public does not doubt for a second that it -is seeing real battles, and tries to pick out relatives amongst the -soldiers in the pictures represented as fighting at the front. - -There are wonderful dramas full of English and French spies, traitors, -and rascals, and of German heroes--all very much appreciated. - -The show is generally closed by slides showing, under the title "What -We Have Achieved," photos of Brussels occupied by the Germans, of the -ruins of French and Belgian towns, of destroyed bridges and shelled -cathedrals. The audience cheer loudly at each picture. - - * * * - -"Ist Gott neutral?" I read this astonishing question printed in red -letters half a foot high on numerous posters stuck on the walls all -over Berlin just as if it was the most ordinary question, such as "Is -Holland neutral?" - -At first I took it for one of those complicated swear-words one so -often hears in Southern Italy. I looked naturally for the answer. - -The answer was given by P. Samuel at the Circus, the very theatre at -which Max Reinhardt produced his cumbersome "Miracle." - -P. Samuel was a name perfectly unknown to me, but I learned that its -owner is a preacher of large fame in Berlin. I decided to go to his -lecture. - -The enormous hall was filled by over 5,000 people. Evidently, thought -I, P. Samuel is a celebrity. In a powerful, low-pitched voice he -started to speak amidst perfect silence. I listened. - -God is not neutral! He is with the Germans. That is why He has placed -them in the middle of Europe. After this war they will be for ever -the first nation of the earth. But they must go back to Christ; the -bankruptcy of materialism is complete. How could a materialist explain -a phenomenon like the present war? The name of Idealist which has -covered the whole nation from the beginning of this war has been -superb; but an Idealism without religion must lead to final disaster. - -The victory of our arms is certain. Since Frederick the Great Germany -has attributed to God the habit of being on the strongest side; now -we can say that He is behind our guns. But even if they are not the -strongest, God is with us all the same. He gave us our genius, our -culture, our art, our music; He gave us the mission to make us teach it -to the whole world. - -The victory is certain, but we must afterwards be worthy of it. - -At this moment it was that I really saw a new Berlin, a Berlin -unsuspected, a Berlin I did not know, a Berlin which is really a -creation of the war. - -Five thousand people had come to this theatre to hear that God is not -neutral. After the preacher had finished the people sang:-- - - - A safe stronghold our God is still, - A trusty shield and weapon; - He'll help us clear from all the ill - That hath us now o'ertaken. - The ancient prince of Hell - Hath risen with purpose fell; - Strong mail of craft and power - He weareth in this hour; - On earth is not his fellow. - - -After that a sudden extraordinary and fascinating thing happened. The -preacher, with his strong, calm voice invited the audience to pray with -him; Pater noster.... The men stood, the women knelt down with the -children, struck by a sort of mystic terror. - -"Vater unser der du bist im Himmel...." - -Five thousand people of all classes, of all social conditions, everyone -with a father or a brother or a husband to pray for, recited the -Paternoster in the theatre. - -They recited it in a low voice, like the murmur of a quiet river. - -Then there was a short silence followed by the benediction, recited by -the black-bearded monk, and the crowd walked out quietly. - -I walked out with the others, and I found myself a little distance -from one of the smartest concert-halls in Berlin, in which a certain -Professor Blüthner was to deliver a lecture, the title of which had -attracted my attention when I had seen it announced in the morning -newspapers; it was, "Us, Italy, and England." - -As I was just in time I stepped in. - -The audience was very select, the five marks admission being devoted to -the fund for soldiers fighting at the front. Most of what is left of -Berlin society was there. - -With polished words the lecturer served out to his hearers the -most astonishing theory: England took part in the struggle, not in -defence of Belgian neutrality, but in fear of Italy becoming a great -Mediterranean Power. - -How? The explanation, according to the lecturer, was simple. - -The Anglo-French Naval Convention imposed on France the necessity of -keeping her fleet in the Mediterranean. If England had kept neutral -she would have allowed France to bring her fleet out to protect her -defenceless coast; but in that case Italy would have been master of the -situation in the Mediterranean. - -That is why England preferred to declare war. Clever and simple, this -explanation, is it not? What will Italy do? - -Mr. Blüthner knows quite well. - -Italy, he is quite certain, will decide to join Germany before long. -Is she not the motherland of Machiavelli, and Machiavelli, we all -know, was decidedly against any form of neutrality. Neutrals, said the -lecturer, will be hated by the beaten nations at the end of the war -and despised by the victors. - -Therefore Italy will join the German side, and the old ideal of the -German Empire (as wrote Bernhardi) will again come to life in a -federation of Germany, Austria, and Italy. - -I wonder if, in a few months' time, this delightful Mr. Blüthner will -be of the same opinion? - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -VIENNA - - -During my first visit to Berlin travel by railway was almost -impossible, so slow, crowded, and irregular was the service at that -time. Now it has been completely restored, and, if anything, probably -better than it ever was, thanks to the small number of passengers. Even -dining and sleeping cars are obtainable on the principal lines. - -In the train which took me from Berlin to Vienna the civilian -passengers were no more than half a dozen; all the other passengers -were officers and soldiers, mostly wounded Austrians returning to their -motherland. Some were very seriously injured and groaned continuously; -others had horrible wounds badly bandaged; some were disfigured; some -had had limbs amputated. - -They begged from the other passengers a few coppers to buy fruits or -cigars, but hardly anybody took any notice of them. They were nearly -all cavalrymen, and, as is usual in Austrian regiments, were of -different nationalities. This explains the lack of fellowship among -them--the lack of a sentiment which generally so much sustains soldiers -of other nations. - -At a frontier station we were able to buy some Austrian papers. -They gave us a sort of foretaste of life in Vienna. There was very -little news, but talk about wonderful victories in Galicia and Serbia -(official), followed by a long white space where a comment had been cut -out by the Censor. - -Two hours before publication a complete proof of every Austrian -paper must be presented to the Censor. Anything not considered fit -for publication is cut away; consequently the paper is often much -ornamented with blank spaces. - -The big station at Vienna presents a really astonishing sight. Wounded -soldiers and refugees are everywhere. Outside the station it is the -same--and it is the same in the large central streets, in the parks, in -the churches. Vienna is the first great town completely transformed by -the war that I have seen. - -On the broad footways at the sides of the streets there are two -unending processions of tired, famished-looking refugees. Most of them -are from Galicia, but there are thousands also from other provinces of -the Empire. - -The authorities do not know where to place them; they do not know what -to do. They make the refugees walk with all that they still possess on -their shoulders. Often a sack and an old chair or some other piece of -furniture will be carried about for days and days. - -These people have the eyes of those who have seen the horrors of war -without knowing what it is all about, without asking or being able to -understand why their fields should be destroyed, their houses burned, -and their pacific existences overturned by the calamity. Vienna does -not know what to do with them. - -The subscription list started for the refugees has not been successful, -and Vienna is invaded by an enormous number of women, children, and old -men, penniless, without clothes, and with no means of subsistence. It -is very difficult to suggest a solution to such a condition of things. -The Government has sent 60,000 to 70,000 of the fugitives to towns in -the west; but there the same phenomenon repeats itself on a smaller -scale. - -The first effect of such a condition of things is the enormous increase -in the prices of foodstuffs. Milk, potatoes, meat, sugar, etc., are -double the usual price; eggs have become a food for the rich, and -bread, even of very bad quality, is expensive and scarce. - -Special decrees have been issued with the purpose of restricting the -use of flour to no more than 50 per cent. in bread and 60 per cent. in -cakes, which are not allowed to be made, even in private houses, more -often than twice a week. - -In the restaurants almost every dish has become more expensive, and -there are no more dinners at fixed prices. - -Coal is a luxury, it being an absolute impossibility to get any from -the Westphalian mines. Gas has nearly doubled in price, and poor people -who could not pay their bills had it cut off immediately. - -Most of the hotels are full of families of the Galician aristocracy. -These families seem to be living a very gay, frivolous, and expensive -life. Smart carriages and motor cars run about the streets that are -full of starving people; while ladies, in £1,000 furs, and gentlemen, -smoking half-sovereign cigars, lounge about the hotels. I have never in -my life seen a more insolent and less appropriate display of wealth. -The rich Galicians show no inclination to help the poorer refugees. "We -are refugees, too," they say. - -Outside the stations I saw a crowd of people waiting for soldiers to -arrive. Having lost faith in what the newspapers say, and aching for -news, the population is trying to get it directly from those coming -from the front. Nearly all the decently dressed Viennese people wear -mourning and nearly all have the armlet of the Red Cross. - -The number of wounded in Vienna is astonishing. All the schools, public -buildings, assembly rooms, most of the theatres and halls, and even -some of the pavilions which generally shelter picture shows and other -attractions, including the famous Circus, have been converted into -hospitals. All the Viennese are trying to nurse soldiers to the best of -their ability; but everything is scarce, from bandages to medicines, -from cotton wool to beds and litters. - -A new calamity seems to be approaching now. Smallpox is breaking out in -the poorer quarters and is claiming many victims, especially amongst -the refugees. Another epidemic that is visiting Vienna is cholera. The -fact is being kept very dark by the authorities to avoid panic; but it -seems that during one week more than 500 lives were lost through the -terrible disease. - -While taking my after-lunch coffee I was astonished to hear at my back -a conversation taking place in the Venetian dialect; two soldiers were -talking about the war, and their accents did not leave me in any doubt -as to their nationality. I went to them and, after a few minutes, won -their confidence and got them to talk. - -They had been wounded in Serbia and had been sent back to Vienna to be -cured. Now they were well and were going back to the front again next -day. I shall never forget the two poor young fellows; one of them was -just twenty, the other about twenty-five; and both were natives of -Trieste. - -They confirmed all that has been said about the system of the Austrian -officers, and added things which I should not have believed had I not -heard them from the victims of the atrocities themselves. - -They told me that in the Austrian Army the word of reproach has been -substituted by a spit in the face or a stroke with a switch; the whip -and the revolver in the hands of officers at the back of their men -serves to send them forward. The hesitation of a second is punished -by a shot. The soldiers obey; but during the struggle there is always -a bullet for the brutal officer which does not come from the enemy's -lines, and which avenges the murdered private. - -All sorts of tortures and insults are inflicted on the soldiers. - -I could not find a word of consolation for the poor chaps who were -going back to such an infernal life. I shook hands with them and walked -away. - -All the other soldiers--German or French, Russian or Serbian--are, -after all, fighting somebody they detest for the victory of their -Motherland; but these poor chaps, forced to give their lives for a -nation they detest, to fight men against whom they have no hate and who -could perhaps help them to get back their independence, are the most -pathetic figures of the whole war. - - * * * - -The Austrian war loan seems to have been an absolute failure. Nobody -wants to buy shares, and the few millions subscribed were taken by -Government employees, who were forced to do so. The high financial -world and the aristocracy have been very stingy; so now the Government -is trying to get at the small purses. - -On the café table, at the post offices, and in the hotels numerous -pamphlets are to be found saying that everybody ought to subscribe at -least twenty-five crowns, not only as a contribution to the nation's -need, but also as an excellent investment. Nobody seems to be anxious -to make the excellent investment. - -It is the middle class which is said to be suffering most under these -conditions, for they have no money in the bank, they hardly manage to -make any money at all at the present moment, and, at the same time, -they don't want to admit that they are in need of anything. - -Vienna has, at the present moment, scores of families--well-dressed and -well-connected--who are starving at home, families which, before the -war, used to live up to their full income and generally above it, and -which, now the father is unemployed or at the front, are absolutely -penniless and too proud to accept anything from public charity. - -But the Viennese is certainly one of the most light-hearted persons on -earth--the war is going badly, the town is full of starving people, -the empire is engaged in a dangerous adventure, the end of which he -does not take the trouble to prognosticate; but what does it matter? He -talks about the war to crack a joke on the subject; he sees and laughs -at the faults of his allies; he manages to have a good time as far as -possible. The few theatres left open are crowded, as well as the cafés, -the cabarets, and all other places of amusement. - -About politics, or the conduct of the war, he does not care to talk. -The argument is sad and it is not even very safe to say exactly what -one thinks on the subject. - -If anybody is heard talking pessimistically about the war he is -denounced to the authorities. A case is made against him, and the -imprudent chatterer is almost certain to be condemned. I know of a -man who got two months' imprisonment for having said that he did not -believe the newspapers. - - * * * - -Besides the hospitals fixed up in numerous picture-galleries, -theatres, university buildings and private houses, the Prater's -constructions given up to depôts, magazines, and aeroplane sheds, -and the complicated system arranged for the collection of money and -comforts for the troops, all of which have altered considerably the -general appearance of the city, the thing which astonished me most -was the activity of a society which bears the harmonious name of "K. -u. K. Oesterreich-Ungarischer-National-Sprachen-Gebrauchs-Verein," -the nearest translation of which I can think of is "Society for the -exclusive use of the national language in the Austro-Hungarian Empire." - -Vienna is certainly one of the towns outside France which shows a -strong French character, and the language, as well as the life of the -whole city, bears evident marks of it. Well, this society wants to rid -the Viennese slang of French words, as well as of all words not in the -German dictionary. The first effects of this movement have been to make -numerous hotels, cafés, and cabarets change names, and the publication -of pamphlets, distributed freely all over the town, in which are full -lists of the _taboo_ words, as well as of the numerous French and -English Christian names which are quite usual in Vienna, and which, it -is requested, should now be given up. - -However, the great majority of Viennese people laugh at this mania; -the Chauvinistic spirit is not very much developed in Vienna, and the -hatred of England, which is Berlin's strongest feeling, is hardly -noticeable here. - - * * * - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -SWITZERLAND - - -We have become so used to regarding Switzerland as an -all-the-year-round playground, and the Swiss as a race of -hotel-keepers, waiters, and guides, that many people were quite -surprised to learn, when Switzerland mobilised, that she could put an -army of 250,000 in the field. - -Switzerland, which has been for centuries the battlefield of European -nations, has understood that even her perpetual neutrality, guaranteed -by the Powers, could not save her from the danger of an invasion if she -did not boast a fairly strong army, and in 1874 she organised a proper -military service. - -A regular army as known in other countries Switzerland does not -possess, but she has an admirably organised militia, an army of citizen -soldiers. The German Emperor, during his last visit to Switzerland, -in September, 1912 (during the first one, nineteen years before, he -had a much more enthusiastic reception), assisted at the manÅ“uvres of -the Swiss army, and his dream of a German Switzerland as a "Germanic -Dependence" must have had a very severe shock. - -His reception was nothing more than polite, and all the shouting and -flag-waving part had to be done by a large portion of the 300,000 -German subjects living in Switzerland, who took the trouble to go to -Berne specially to see their Kaiser in his carefully chosen uniform. -William II., being now aware that the Swiss nation does not mean to -preserve her neutrality by sending troops only to the Franco-Italian -frontier, will realise that the fact that the Swiss President carefully -avoided showing him, or any of his officers, the fortifications of the -German frontier was not a mere coincidence. - -It was just a few days after this famous visit that a Franco-Swiss -newspaper printed this wonderful little paragraph about the German -Emperor:--"People have so often talked about the cult of peace without -believing in it that one may finally be permitted to believe in it -without talking about it." - -In any case, the Kaiser, as soon as he was back in Berlin, sent to the -Swiss Government 2,000 yards of grey-blue cloth to dress a group of -the Swiss infantry troops, which at that time were still wearing very -dark uniforms. The Kaiser observed that those uniforms would be very -conspicuous in wartime, and his present of cloth was most appreciated, -and lately, with a slight modification in the shade, adopted. - -Troops dressed in this way are now watching the German frontier. - -Though the Swiss recruit has a very short training, he is quite -effective as a soldier. As a schoolboy he has a proper physical -training, and when he leaves school he generally joins a rifle club. At -twenty he is liable to military service, which for every Swiss lasts -a period of twenty-five years. During the first year he is called out -for recruits' service, which in the infantry lasts forty-five days, in -the cavalry eighty days, and in the field artillery fifty-five days. -On completing his first year he joins the Élite, or active army, and -remains in it for twelve years. On leaving the Élite men pass to the -Landwehr, in which they remain until their twenty-fifth year of service. - -A third line of troops for home defence is furnished by the Landsturm, -which is composed of all able-bodied citizens between the ages of -seventeen and fifty who are not embodied in the Élite or Landwehr. - -The Federal Army thus constructed may be said in round numbers to -consist of:--Élite, 135,000; Landwehr, 82,000; and Landsturm, 63,000; -total, 280,000--an astonishing figure if one considers the total -population of Switzerland and how cheaply this army is obtained. - - * * * - -Before the beginning of this war one must admit there was a sort of -ill-feeling in the Swiss Confederation against France. To protect her -national industries the Republic used to be very strict on the subject -of imports from Switzerland, and the custom tariffs for exportation of -goods to France used to be much higher than those upon exports into -Germany or Italy. Since the war broke out everything has changed; the -example of Belgium and of what happened to that unfortunate nation, -for the sole reason that she was "in the way of the Germans," has made -Switzerland think how analogous is her own situation with the situation -of Belgium. - -The so-called "verbal treaty" existing with Germany stood little chance -of being respected after the way in which the regular treaty with -Belgium had been violated. - -At the very beginning of the campaign there was great fear of France -trying to pass through Switzerland, fear increased artificially by the -Swiss Press, which has always been frankly in favour of Germany. But -now the Swiss population begins to realise how things are really going, -and their attitude is really and strictly neutral. - -It appears that the respect and ingratiating attitude towards Germany -shown by Switzerland at the beginning of the war was the usual -behaviour of the small weak boy towards the school bully. Moreover, -there was some excuse for this. It is very difficult to obtain any -papers other than German in Switzerland, and all the calumnies printed -in them were taken by the Swiss population for gospel truth. - -Now some of the Berne papers begin to show a little more independence, -and print side by side the different official _communiqués_ of the -various nations. - -The Government has begun to think seriously about the food supply -question. Supposing Italy should go to war--which, it is realised, may -quite well happen any day--what would happen to Switzerland, surrounded -by Germany, Austria, France, and Italy? Where could she get the -foodstuffs she is bound to import? - -Large depôts and stores of all kinds have been arranged, and severe -measures have been taken against contraband runners, who up to October -last were carrying on extensive operations. The Government has -monopolised the mills and the whole of the wheat reserves, as well as -all imports, which are taken up by the Government and sold at standard -prices and in no larger quantities than is absolutely indispensable. - -All the Swiss people I came across seemed to be occupied more by -their commercial interests, badly hit as they are by the war, than by -anything else. They only wish for the war to cease, the sooner the -better. - -There are hardly any foreigners in Switzerland, though some Swiss -hotel-keepers have been advertising both in England and Germany: in -England that the German managers and waiters had been removed; in -Germany that no English guests would be received in their hotels. - -However, business was very slack, and everybody seemed very pessimistic -about the coming summer season. - -Though the sentence, "Politically we have nothing to get and nothing to -lose," is often repeated, I met somebody who showed me that the great -crisis has awakened hopes of national development even in this quiet, -business-like little country. - -At the Bubenberg, a large Berne café of world-wide fame, I met a Swiss -ex-officer whose white hair saved him from the danger of the Landsturm -service. In front of him, on the marble table, a large map of East -Switzerland was wide open, and he was tracing a few mysterious lines -on it with a blue pencil. When I asked him about it, he told me that -the north frontier of Switzerland could never be safe unless it was a -"natural" one. - -"Our canton of Shaffausen," said he, "is completely isolated -among German land. We want this little piece of territory between -Ludnigshafen, on the Boden-see, and Bargen. We want also the Wutach -frontier, from the spot where this river marks our frontier with -Germany down to the Rhine." - -"And what about your neutrality?" I asked him. - -"Oh, the neutrality, _mon ami_, could not mean much in a general -modification of the European map; and beside that, _vous savez l'apetit -vient en mangeant_; and if everybody has a piece of Germany, why should -we keep out of the feast?" - -It will be just a hundred years next September since the Prussian -Principality of Neuchatel became a Swiss canton. Well, after all, the -old Swiss captain's idea would be a rather smart way of celebrating a -centenary. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -ITALY - - -"What will Italy do?" The question is often repeated in the newspapers -of the capitals of Europe. The interest in the attitude of Italy, the -only Great European Power which has not, to the time of writing, taken -a part in the war, seems to increase every day. - -For one who is here, in Rome, the answer can hardly be doubtful. Italy -looks very much like a country getting ready for war; like a country -that understands to the utmost that this is an occasion on which to -fulfil her national ambition--an occasion that will never return. - -When the war broke out, Italy found herself in a peculiar position. -Bound by the decrepit Triple Alliance to Austria and Germany, but with -her interests, feeling, and sympathies on the side of the Entente, -Italy did not, unfortunately, feel strong enough to take a decision -straight away. Her army, especially the artillery, was in need of much -material; the Tripoli war, the plan and conduct of which was marred by -the very same mistakes England committed in the South African War, had -swallowed up more money and men than had been expected. Her diplomats, -though warned of the approaching storm, did not believe that it would -break so soon, and under such a condition of things, neutrality seemed -for the moment the only possible attitude. - -Italy fully realised that if she wanted to take her part in this -war, or at least if she wanted to safeguard her own interests, she -had to get ready first. The large quantity of guns, which had been -ordered at Krupp's, was not supplied, and Italy had to make good the -deficiencies with her national industrial resources. Nearly all the -large metal-works in Italy started making guns under the supervision -of artillery officers; new uniforms, new boots, ammunition, sanitary -necessities, etc., have been prepared in very large quantities. The -fortresses on the Alps and the eastern frontiers have been reinforced, -and a number of regiments generally quartered in South and Central -Italy have been moved steadily to the northern towns. - -This as far as the Government goes. As for the spirit of the army, -it could not be keener. In the barracks the old songs of the -"Risorgimento" have been resurrected and have taken the place of the -Neapolitan melodies. - -Many officers told me that their men kept asking, "When are we going -to fight?" just as if Italy was already at war. The aspiration to the -possession of Trento and Trieste, which, during the last twenty years -seemed to have weakened considerably, has now reawakened as strong as -ever, and the many inhabitants of Dalmatia and Istria, who have left -their homes for Italy during the last months, to escape persecutions -and vexations of all kinds, are carrying on an active propaganda. - -Almost every day there are demonstrations in favour of going to war. -The university towns of Italy are like powder-magazines ready to -explode at the first spark of war, and the professors have to use -all their authority to keep their students quiet and to prevent them -running away to enlist in France or Montenegro. Before the war the most -educated Italian classes gave to Germany a place of honour amongst -the cultivated nations of the world. Now this feeling has completely -disappeared and its place has been taken by disgust and hate for the -country which has disguised her incurable barbarism under a mask of -more or less real culture. German people in Italy have never got on -very well with the majority of the population, but now they are having -a very hard time. Everybody tries to avoid them, in the way of business -and relations of all other kinds, and most of those who did not go -back to fight for their country have left for America, or have become -naturalised Italian citizens. - -Public opinion in Italy varies from province to province. While all the -south is frankly eager for war as soon as possible, in the northern -provinces, the richest and most industrial of Italy, the population is -just now recovering from the financial losses inflicted by the last -war, and would prefer Italy to keep neutral as far as possible. - -This does not mean that the war would be unpopular there. Rich -provinces are a little like wealthy people; they would rather keep -quiet and continue in their profitable business, but when the danger -is near and fighting is unavoidable they give up without regret their -everyday habits and bravely do their duty. - -The different tendencies of the north and south meet in Rome. Though -there are no more convinced adherents of the Triple Alliance left -in Italy, and though you cannot find a single Italian who will say -that his country ought to have fought side by side with Austria and -Germany, the neutralist party is still very strong, and the idea of -making _cause commune_ with France still keeps some of the intransigent -Catholics from joining the War Party. The Socialists have assumed a -sort of wait-and-see attitude which will easily be changed at the right -moment to frank support of the war; and the new Nationalist Party, -though only a few years old, is making gigantic progress. - -The most important part of the Italian Press has never ceased, -since the beginning of the war, to try and make the nation feel the -disadvantages of an uncertain position. - -Without England or France having supported them, or even treated -particularly well their correspondents (many Italian journalists, -Barzini included, were arrested and sent back to Paris when found -too near the front), the Italian Press, with few and not important -exceptions, has opposed the idea of neutral policy. One of the most -important of Italian journals printed as a sub-title to its heading -in big type the sentence of Machiavelli: "Neutrality is never suitable -to a nation, for a State who keeps neutral loses her friends, does not -gain advantages and, when the war is over, ingenerates such diffidence -about her future conduct that no other nation cares to conclude an -alliance with her." - -Germany and Austria, recognising the trend of public opinion in -Italy, did not economise money or trouble in an endeavour to change -its course if possible. Two or three newspapers were bought by a sort -of secret trust which depends upon "Palazzo Venezia," the Austrian -Embassy in Rome; some others were largely subventioned; news made -in Germany was sent out, not only to all newspapers, but to private -houses. A friend of mine kept a full collection of such pamphlets right -from the beginning of the war. The circulars are issued every two or -three weeks, and generally begin with a formal denial of everything -that has been stated by the French, English, and Russian official -bulletins. Accusations of pillage, robbery, murder, and cruelties of -every possible kind are made against the Allies, and are _proved_ by -bogus letters from German officers and soldiers. This system, though it -certainly does not succeed amongst the more educated classes, scores -a little more amongst the lower-class folk, who are highly flattered -to see amongst their weekly correspondence a large letter bearing for -crest the Austrian or German eagle. - -Another system largely employed by Germany in their attempted work of -modifying Italy's public opinion is the free supply of photographs -and sketches to illustrated newspapers. Above all, however, they have -concentrated their endeavours upon the kinema. - -The picture-house has ceased to be the means of spending an hour far -from business and worry, in a restfully darkened room, watching a -moderately amusing and, possibly, highly moral film, which does not -suffer if one misses part of it. Now it has become an instrument used -by Governments for educating the people. - -Germany produces a large number of war films, both for home display -and for abroad. There are descriptive, allegoric, sentimental, even -comic films inspired by the war: the soldiers of the Kaiser do the most -wonderful things. They are strong, generous, good-humoured. Most of -these scenes are arranged, and only slices of real life in the case of -military revues and parades are introduced. - -The German authorities seem to be specially anxious to prove one thing: -that the German soldiers are behaving like gentlemen, and that the -stories about their deeds in Belgium and France are calumnies. - -Perhaps this very earnestness in trying to alter a prevalent belief -proves that Germany has not quite a clear conscience on the subject. - -So, at least, seem to think the Italian public; and when some such -pictures were shown lately in Rome and Milan, nobody took them -seriously, and they were considered as childish fakes. - -Such films are offered to picture-house managers on extremely tempting -terms by special agents, who tour all over Italy. Nearly all the -atrocities which were proved to have been committed by the Germans -themselves are attributed in these films to the Belgians. In one of -them a Belgian woman sets fire to the bed on which three wounded -German soldiers are dying, and runs away after taking their watches -and pocket-books. In another picture the old tale of the _treachery_ -of the Louvain inhabitants is staged in a very fierce manner; I have -also seen a picture of a cavalry charge given as having been actually -taken during the war in Flanders, but which was really part of a two -years' old manÅ“uvre film, easily recognisable because the uniforms have -changed since then. - -As no English or French war pictures reach Italy, the local firms have -to make their own war-films to suit the taste of their public. In the -country round about Milan, Turin, and Rome, the principal centres of -the Italian film industry, cardboard Belgian villages and churches, -trenches, and terrible-looking fortresses have been constructed, and -one can often see hundreds of "Tommies" in khaki, French "pioupious" -and helmeted Germans fighting miniature battles. - -Another of Germany's devices to capture Italian public opinion was the -famous tour of Italian journalists, organised by a well-known German -emissary, who, by the way, has been arrested lately as a spy in Naples. - -None of Italy's best-known journalists, nor any correspondents of -predominant papers, accepted the invitation, and only about twelve -young men, belonging to second-rate journals, went, chaperoned by the -vigilant Herr Sweinhart. - -But they were only allowed to see parades and specially prepared -trenches, or batteries which had never been exposed to the fire. They -were shown a concentration camp, but were not allowed to speak to the -prisoners. They were taken to Liège to see the forts, but not to the -destroyed towns in Belgium. Then they had to go back to Berlin and were -kept there in one of the principal hotels, waiting for the moment when -everything should have been arranged for them on some quiet spot of -the Russian frontier. The tour came to a sudden and rather unfortunate -end, as the journalists, having realised that they were allowed to see -nothing of interest, but only what pleased Herr Sweinhart, decided to -return to Italy at their own expense, and did not write a line about -their experiences so as not to excite the hearty laughter of their -wiser colleagues. - -The cleverest move of the Austro-Germans in the direction of keeping -Italy quiet as long as possible was certainly the sending of von Buelow -to Rome as German Ambassador. - -The personal charm of this clever diplomat probably accounts for -Italy's attitude during the last months. He acted, and is still acting, -like a rubber cushion between the Teutonic ruggedness and the Italian -susceptibility. - - * * * - -In the little "Trattoria" near Piazza Colonna, in which most -parliamentary men meet in preference to the big, gilded, French-style -restaurants, where the food is excellent, the wine taken with a gay -murmur from large barrels showing at the back, and where hardly any -"outsider" or any foreigners dare enter, so modest is the appearance of -the establishment, half-a-dozen world-known writers, politicians, and -journalists were enjoying a "fritto di pesce," abundantly accompanied -by the light wine, "delli Castelli." The subject of the conversation -was, of course, the war. All the sympathies were on the side of the -Entente. A copy of _The Times_ was passed from one to another, and -the most important news was translated for the benefit of the few of -the company who were not familiar with English. A well-known writer -of military criticism in one of the principal Italian papers, a -former Major in the army, produced a letter from one of his sons, -now fighting with the French army in Alsace. The letter was very -enthusiastic about everything and everybody at the front; the young -man was one of the very last to manage to join the voluntary corps, -Italy having, since December last, stopped completely the granting of -passports to young men liable for military service. - -The wonderful work of the "Dante Alighieri," the society which has been -struggling hard during the last years to keep the Italian language -alive in the provinces under foreign domination, the last poem of -D'Annunzio on the war, the concentration of troops near Verona, were, -in turn, subjects of conversation. I got the impression that for them -the question was not, "Are we going to war?" but, "When are we going to -war?" - - * * * - -Italy has suffered very much already for this war. All her commerce -with the Continent has been stopped, as well as her shipping lines -trading with Constantinople and the Black Sea. The shortage of -petroleum, coal and wood has hit many of her industries, and some -foodstuffs have increased considerably in prices. - -Moreover, the annual tide of foreigners which is the principal resource -of many Italian towns has not come this year, and Italy begins to -realise that if she is not going to war now, she has made enormous -financial sacrifices to equip her army. She will have shared all the -disadvantages of the fighting countries without being able to get any -of the recompense. - -It is now for Italy to make a great decision. If she believes in her -destiny, if she feels that there are in her energies, intelligence, -and possibilities of taking her real place amongst the great Powers of -Europe, she has to fight. - -If she feels she is not equal to such a task, then she had better -become at once the first of the defensive countries and renounce all -her dreams of empire; she had better sell her fleet, economise on -armaments, and invest the money saved in first-class hotels, casinos, -and spas. She has certainly beauty and natural advantages enough to -out-rival Switzerland, Spain, or Norway. - -But the modern Italian is rather tired of being the citizen of a -country admired only for her blue skies, her Roman monuments, and her -rich museums. He is more proud of her industrial enterprise, of the -wide expansion, of the wonderful progress of his country in the last -fifty years, than of the fair pages of her history. He will not hear -about renouncing what he calls the third renaissance of Italy. - -That is why I believe Italy is going to fight. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -FRANCE - -_Notes taken while Motoring on the Riviera._ - - -MENTONE. - -In the southern sunshine it is a strain to realise that France is at -war, that, in the north, the biggest war the world has ever seen is -being fought out desperately day after day. The only unusual sight -is the groups of Senegalais, the French Colonial soldiers, and the -blackest niggers I have ever seen, walking at leisure on the parade -with a curious movement of the arms and of the whole body, which -reminds one, at the same time, of a bear in his cage and the balancing -efforts of a dancer on the tight-rope. They are waiting expectantly to -be sent to the battlefield, and in the meantime enjoying themselves, -walking about holding each other's hands, and laughing at everything -with a wide, good-natured laugh. Everybody likes them and spoils them. -To see the Senegalais walking amongst the palm trees under the tropical -sky of Mentone, clad in dark blue with the wide scarlet belt round -their waists, is really a pleasure to the eyes. - -They look and feel at home. When I see a coloured man or a Chinaman -in the Strand I generally feel sorry for the poor beggar; he would be -all right in Pernambuco or in Canton, but in London he looks like a -violation of the natural order of things. That's why I was pleasantly -surprised when I saw the Senegalais of Mentone. Most of them are very -fine fellows, well over six feet, and quite a number show wound scars -and medals, which prove that they will not be new to fire when they -take the field. - -In addition to the coloured troops, not many soldiers are seen now -in Mentone, as the wounded sent down here are still in the hospitals, -and only very few risk the air. But a few may be seen in the sunshine, -surrounded by a small crowd of admiring children and of sympathetic -grown-ups of both sexes. The temporary hospitals have been arranged in -a number of the larger hotels which were formerly owned by Germans, and -prove now most useful and comfortable for the French wounded. - -Mentone had during the last few years acquired the fame of being one of -the most Germanised towns of France. This sort of pacific invasion was -encouraged by the German Government in the hope that Italy would stick -to Germany in the long-expected struggle, and she could then have a -sort of _avant-garde_ of friends in French territory at the beginning -of hostilities. Instead, when the war broke out, after a week's -hesitation France withdrew practically the whole of her frontier troops -and guns, while Italy was doing the same at the other side. - -When the Germans were forced to leave, one of the expelled -hotel-keepers, after passing the Italian frontier, which is at a few -yards' distance from the last houses of Mentone, showing his fist to -the crowd still on French territory, shouted: "_Au revoir!_ In two -weeks in Paris!" His hotel has been the only German house in Mentone -wrecked by the population. - - * * * - -MONTE CARLO. - -In every small town along the Riviera I came across I never failed to -ask: "Are there any British wounded here?" - -The answer was always the same "No, not yet, but we are expecting some, -sir"; or, "Mrs. or Miss So-and-So has offered her villa, with doctors -and nurses and everything, so they are bound to come soon." - -And this is perfectly true. Everywhere, even in small villages like -La Turbie, English ladies have offered to equip their villas as -hospitals for British wounded. But no one has been sent yet, and the -beautiful houses in that wondrous climate, which would certainly mean a -delightful and quick convalescence, still remain empty. - -If no use is made of such generous offers the fault will more easily be -found in England than in France. - -During a long motor trip all along the Upper Corniche Road I saw -hundreds of French wounded who have become quite well and will go back -to the front in a few days' time. - -I spoke to some of them, and all admitted that there is nothing like -staying, even for a very short time, on the Riviera to pick one up -after the life of the trenches. - -Not only wealthy people in their villas, but many among the middle -classes and even poor folk find room for convalescent wounded in their -homes; a doctor goes round every morning, but all the nursing is done -by the families who take charge of the sick men. - -Motoring on the Riviera is now a fairly complicated business, in -spite of the passports and other documents which everyone now carries. -At every control--and there is a control at every village--there are -difficulties. - -This severity rather surprised me, considering how easily one can get -into France from England, Switzerland, or Italy. - -The explanation was given me by a lieutenant, who said that, during -the last few months, German spies had been pouring into France -continuously, either by means of the passports of neutral nations, or -by landing in the seaside towns near the frontier from a small boat. -This accounts also for the fact that sailing or boating has been -forbidden, except in special cases, and for fishing purposes. - -The war has affected the Riviera in one curious way. Certain articles -have become quite cheap, others more expensive than usual, owing to the -fact that the goods service with Paris is infrequent and too slow for -perishable stuff, and that Italy, since the war broke out, has stopped -any exportation of foodstuffs. - -Eggs, cheese, and butter are getting dearer, while flowers, oranges, -&c., which generally are exported to Austria, Russia, and England, are -now obtainable at extremely low prices. - -This last Christmastide the Riviera suffered a famine of -Christmas-trees. The young pines used for this purpose generally arrive -in large quantities during the week preceding Christmas and come from -Col di Tenda, on the other side of the frontier. - -But wood is amongst the things the exportation of which from Italy -has been stopped, and as it was too late to get pines from somewhere -else, the children, for the most part, had to be content with curious -substitutes; while the Senegalais in Mentone had their first, and let -us hope last, Christmas-tree made with a huge laurel. - -Life is altogether considerably cheaper than usual in Monte Carlo, -at least for the winter visitors. Most of the hotels have reduced -their tariffs, and I could name more than one very first-class house -which, probably for the first time in their existence, have quoted _en -pension_ terms. - -Summer is naturally the quiet season on the Riviera, and it is -then that Monte Carlo proceeds with her yearly toilet, undergoes -transformations and improvements. Quite a number of embellishments -had just been started when the war broke out, and at the moment these -constructions remain unfinished, waiting for quieter times. - -For instance, the familiar square in front of the Casino, and the Hotel -de Paris, with its lawns and flower-beds, has become an enormous hole, -an excavation which looks like a quarry. In a day still distant it will -become an underground garage in which the cars of the visitors of the -Casino can wait instead of crowding all along the Avenue des Palmiers. - -The work, which was begun last summer and should have been finished by -December, was interrupted by the war. The Casino is open, with Louis -Ganne, of "Marche Lorraine" fame, Caruso, and all the other great -artists. None of the usual Russian and American customers are seen in -the _salles-de-jeu_. - -When I entered the roulette room the gambling was very slack. There -were only eight or nine people round the green table. Three old ladies -of the special kind one sees only in the Casinos of the Riviera--blonde -wig, wrinkles patiently filled up with pink paint, and a small, sickly -dog emerging from a fur-lined bag--were playing very methodically with -very small stakes; two Americans were staking high and losing a fair -amount; an elderly Englishman of the retired major type was going _en -plein_ every now and again after consulting each time a small red-bound -book, in which all the _en pleins_ of perhaps twenty years were marked, -while a party of Spaniards, evidently new to the green table, were -playing irregularly in a foolish way and losing nearly every time. - -A young French artillery officer, still limping, and with his right arm -suspended by a black silk bandage, entered the room, came straight to -the table and put two louis on the 14 a second or so before the _rien -ne va plus_ was pronounced. - -The little ball stopped on the 15. - -A lady who was with the officer excitedly pinched his undamaged arm. - -"You never listened to me, Jean," she called out. "You forgot the -little mark on your left shoulder." - -Everyone within earshot, the imperturbable croupier included, smiled. -The officer himself joined in, and could not help giving some -explanation. - -"My wife," he said, "insisted on putting my money on the number -corresponding to the number of my wounds. I have fourteen to speak -of, but I did not count a tiny scratch which a bullet made on my left -shoulder." - -Then, addressing his wife: "The next time I come back we will count -everything. We'll get an _en plein_ then!" - - * * * - -NICE. - -Though the affluence of foreign people at Nice is, this year, greatly -reduced, the population of the town is perhaps higher than when the -season is in full swing. - -Nice has, this year, an unusual class of guests, people who, up to a -few months ago, used to think of Nice as a sort of earthly paradise -reserved to the plutocracy of the new and old world, and who would -never have seen the Côte d'Azur if the war had not chased them from -their homes in the east of France and in Belgium. - -Nice has, at the present moment, five or six thousand refugees, and -more are expected. I saw groups of them walking along the long dusty -road that runs at the side of the Paillon, the little torrent which, in -winter, looks quite a respectable river. - -Here is nothing of the Nice that English people know; no hotels, no -palm trees, no flower-beds, no smart shops. - -The town in its eastern part has preserved its look of sixty years ago, -the only new constructions being two huge hive-like barracks. It is -probably uglier and dirtier than the commercial quarter of Marseilles -itself. - -The refugees have chosen as their favourite promenade this dingy -quarter. Here they meet the soldiers who are coming back or are going -to their country, here the Corporation of Nice distributes twice a day -free soup to the poor. - -The refugees are not often seen in the smart part of the town. -The Promenade des Anglais, the Jetée, and the Place Massena are a -background too much in contrast with their ragged clothes. They don't -care to walk near the well-dressed people lounging in basket-chairs -along the promenade. - -Most of the refugees have taken with them all they could manage to -carry, and it is touching to see how, amongst all their troubles, -seldom have they forgotten the little mongrel dog, faithful companion -in the happy days before the war. - -I was contemplating the refugees, and walking down the irregular -pavement of a Genoese-looking street, when a strange sight met my eyes. - -Behind a brick wall an extraordinary structure of long wooden bars, -osiers, canes, wire-work, and such-like material, emerged and reached a -height of perhaps twenty feet. - -After a minute's uncertitude, I remembered that I was in Nice, the -motherland of the famous Carnival. This complicated construction could -only be the skeleton of His Majesty King Carnival himself, the jolly -deity who presides at the Riviera winter festivities. - -"I thought you always burnt your King Carnival at the end of the -season," I said to a native. "How is it that you preserved last year's -dummy?" - -"This, sir," he answered, "is not the last Roi Carnival, but the next -Roi Carnival. Nobody thought we were going to take him round the town -this year, but we shall probably have him finished up with canvas and -plaster all the same. - -"Of course, it will not be one of our great Carnivals; we have no money -to throw away this winter, but His Majesty will go round the streets -with a German helmet on his head and two upstanding moustaches, and -everybody will enjoy more than usual the moment, at the beginning of -Lent, when the figure will be set on fire." - -Really, Nice does not look like a town which will, this year, have -festivities of any kind. There are too many wounded and too many -hospitals; the restrictions imposed by the Government are too strict, -and the people do not seem to want any such amusement. Most of the -luxury shops remain closed, and there is no chance of having an opera -season or the famous Veglione at the Opera. - -When walking about in Nice one gets the impression that France's -military resources are almost unlimited. I don't know how many -soldiers are in the town at the present moment, but certainly more -than half the men one meets in the streets are in uniform. The long, -straight Avenue de la Gare, the Oxford Street of Nice, is the favourite -promenade of the military element. - -Chasseurs des Alpes and Turcos, Colonial troops and helmeted cavalry, -lend a gay look to the wide, handsome street, and the red and gold of -their uniforms moving about in all directions reminds one of the bright -setting of a patriotic ballet. - -Here are the offices of the leading local newspaper. The latest war -news is written in large characters on a huge board hanging from the -second-floor windows. A permanent crowd waits there, commenting on the -cables, with an astonishing abundance of gestures, in a curious mixed -dialect of Italian, French, and Provençal. - -Inside the offices is a sort of picture gallery. Photographs of all -the officers and soldiers, natives of Nice who have fallen during the -war, with a record of their deeds, and newspaper cuttings about them, -sometimes in English as well as in French, are hung round the room, to -the respectful admiration of the people. - -Pious hands daily place fresh flowers beneath these photographs. All -the men inspect the collection with hats off. An old lady placed -some superb white roses round the picture of a young lieutenant; a -black-haired young girl of the working-class went round with a bunch of -scarlet carnations, and decorated the photos of those soldiers who had -no other fresh flowers. - - * * * - -PARIS, _February_. - -"Paris is desperately dull," said a club acquaintance whose weakness -it is to affect a _blasé_ manner. He made the remark to me just before -I left London, he being newly returned from a tour in France. "Nothing -on; nothing left of what we call Paris! It is really the most boring -place on earth." - -So it would be for most people, I am afraid--people who have always -refused to see Paris as it is, but who pretend to see it as a town in -which pleasure and habits, life and morals, are abnormal, different, -and possibly opposite to those of all other places on earth. - -Such people have never seen--or, at any rate, never understood Paris. -They have only seen the gay if somewhat professional, amusing if -somewhat vulgar, mask the capital of France shows to most foreigners -who do not trouble or who do not wish to see her real face. - -At the moment of the declaration of war this mask suddenly dropped, and -Paris appeared to the few foreigners who were there at that time to be -completely altered; anxiety instead of cynicism; patriotism instead of -that curious pose of French people which makes them enjoy running down -their rulers and reading about Government scandals. - -All these sentiments, which were either asleep or kept concealed -because they were thought to be much too _vieux jeux_, came out again. -The motto of Republican France, _Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité_ (which -appears so often on the buildings of Paris), ceased to sound ironic and -anachronistic. - -Maybe all this seems extremely boring to the more or less real -_viveur_, who cannot conceive Paris without _cafés du nuit_ and -absinthe, shocking little theatres, and all the rest of Parisian -pleasures which are by no means only Parisian nowadays, and which, in -any case, are mostly organised for foreigners and by foreigners. - -To my eyes, Paris has never been so wonderful a city as since the war -broke out. - -I saw it astonished and overrun by the mobilising troops at the -beginning of the war; ready to fight the invaders and to again undergo -the calamities of 1871, when the investment of the town appeared -unavoidable; full of hope when the tide of the German advance was -suddenly stopped, not a day too soon; decided to make all efforts and -sacrifices to end the war as soon and as gloriously as possible now -that everybody in France is certain of final victory. - -It is certainly impossible in hurried notes of this kind to try -and analyse Paris in 1915. It is a subject fit for treatment only -in a book, and a large book, too. The new wave of sincerity and -self-sacrifice has swept away habits and men, affectation and vices; -and one feels that in the future Paris will never again be quite the -same as before the war. - -Forty-five years ago the siege destroyed for ever the society Zola has -snapshotted for us in the "Rougon-Macquard." Probably Paris will come -out of the present crisis purified of the _arrivistes_, politicians, -snobs, and pseudo-artists that we all know, thanks to French literature -and the French theatre of to-day. - -Then there will be room for a new society, possibly as bad as the -former, and, for a few writers, not quite as entertaining to write -about. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -HOLLAND - - -During my war wanderings I crossed Holland several times, and each -time I spent a few days there. I did this because of the difficulty of -getting the signatures of the different foreign Consuls, because of -the irregular service run by the Channel boats, and because I wanted -to witness the change which, little by little, came over Dutch public -opinion and altered the Germanophile tendencies of the early days of -the war to the sympathy for the Entente of the last months. - -This does not mean to say that Holland was wildly pro-German in August -and is enthusiastically pro-British now. - -Holland is essentially pro-Holland, for can we blame her for this -attitude, which has been christened by an eminent writer of a neutral -country "sacred egoism"? - -We who belong to nations numbered, since a more or less long time, -among the great Powers, love our country and our independence in a -different way from that of the subject of a small nation. We love it, -as a matter of fact, without thinking and without speaking very much -about it; we know she is in a position to defend herself if attacked, -and that she is able to make other nations respect her. - -But a Dutchman, like a native of all little States, loves his country -and cherishes her independence with the tender and anxious feeling we -feel for a person we might easily lose. He knows how difficult is the -position of his country, and the example of what happened to Belgium -has made him even more thoughtful about it. - -The bygone sympathy for Germany was not of a very demonstrative sort, -and was inspired in the Dutch population by the undeniable affinity -of race, as well as by the never-completely-extinguished jealousy of -Belgium and the ill-feeling against England due to the Transvaal War. - -But a distinction has to be made; if the Dutch people were rather -inclined towards Germany on account of her activity, her commercial -prosperity, and her wonderful development (which, indirectly, has -done a lot of good to Holland--intermediary and natural channel -between Germany and the sea), they felt the opposite sentiments -towards Prussia. "Prussia" means, in Holland, the military caste, -the Hohenzollern system, the competition in armaments, the general -predominance of the soldier over the civilian. - -This Holland could never like. She belongs to the hen type, and not to -the eagle type. She will fight if she is forced to do so, and fight -well too, but she leads a useful existence, and does not understand -nor appreciate the system of life of the other bird and his mania for -space, for dominion, for prey. - -Then came the war, and Holland had to arm, and the refugees began -to pour in from the Belgian frontier, and with them their tales of -horror; then the action of England protecting the weak against the -strong captured the sympathies of the Dutch public; the rudeness and -clumsiness of the German Government, its system of war, its campaign of -paid articles in the Dutch papers and spies all over the Dutch country, -its unfortunate diplomatic conduct, did the rest. - -Each time I visited Holland during this war I received the impression -that England had acquired, and Germany lost, some more friends. - -In the meantime, the Government proceeded to look after the defensive -works, and the mobilisation, which was thought at the beginning of the -war to be a temporary measure, became a permanent thing. In Holland, -before the war, a soldier or an officer was a curiosity. I remember -that during my first visit, years ago, I wanted to see the different -uniforms of the Dutch Army, but could never manage to do so, so scarce -were the soldiers. Even at the Hague one used to see very few officers, -and I remember asking a Dutch friend, "Where do you keep your army, -please?" To which he answered, "I am not quite certain if we have one!" - -Now soldiers are everywhere, and good, solid, sturdy soldiers they -look too. I saw them drilling in the grounds near Haarlem, on the long -straight avenue that leads to Scheveningen, in the narrow lanes which -run by the side of the canals, and I received the most favourable -impression. - -But the element _Man_ is necessarily of secondary importance in the -defence of a country like Holland. The only effective system of -protecting her well-developed frontiers is by fortifications, and to -this Holland has turned her attention long since. During the last forty -years the Dutch Government has carried out, at great expense, the -construction of a line of forts, complete with channels, blockhouses, -and redoubts, all along the German and Belgian frontiers. - -Recently these forts were all armed with modern guns, and the capital, -Amsterdam, was also fortified in a modern and efficient manner. - -But this does not mean that the defence of the country would be carried -out without much trouble; on the contrary, if Holland went to war, -the forts would offer a temporary resistance against the gigantic -modern artillery, and then the sluices would be opened and the whole -of the country, with the exception of a few eastern provinces, would -be covered by the water of the Zuyder Zee, the level of which, as -everybody knows, is higher than the level of Holland. The towns and -villages would be kept out of water by means of a system of strategic -dykes, and the country would probably resist for a long period. - -But what an enormous price Holland would have to pay! The century-long -work which has transformed a sea-bed into the productive, modern -Holland would be completely wasted. For years and years to come the -industrial life of Holland would be spoiled, and it is almost certain -that the little kingdom, instead of being one of the richest, would -become one of the poorest countries on earth. - -This is certainly one of the many reasons why Holland does all she -possibly can to remain neutral. - -Up to the present she has succeeded in the difficult task, thanks not -only to the action of her Government, but also to the behaviour of her -subjects. - -When you speak to a Dutchman who happens to have been near the frontier -and to have spoken to Belgian refugees, he may let himself go and use -a bitter phrase against Germany, but he will suddenly stop with the -sentence: "Of course, I am a neutral, and this does not really concern -me." - -It is wonderful to see how the single individual understands the -fragility of his country, which reminds one of the earthenware pitcher -travelling with the bronze vase. Even when he had to suffer personally -from German manners (and many inhabitants of Holland trading with -Belgium were treated in the most disgusting way), the Dutchman will -generally add, as a sort of excuse, after relating his adventures: -"But, of course, they are at war, and probably one cannot help doing -such things even to neutrals when one's country is at war." - - * * * - -If Holland is "the most neutral of neutral States," it does not mean -that the war is not felt financially in the country. In Amsterdam a -member of the Chamber of Commerce told me that Holland's trade since -the war began has been reduced gradually by more than 65 per cent., and -that this figure is continually mounting higher. - -Moreover, the refugees from Belgium who have found asylum in the -western provinces cost the nation a fair amount of money, not to -consider the expense of the fully-mobilised army's upkeep and the high -prices paid for the hurried fortification works carried out since the -beginning of the war. - -"Dutch people are said to have made a good deal of money out of -Germany, up to December or even later, by selling her foodstuffs and -other articles at very high prices," I remarked, remembering what I had -heard both in England and Germany. - -"Somebody certainly has," admitted the Dutchman. "Since August, 1914, -our Government has stopped the exportation of wheat, etc., but some -German private agents used to buy it and send it to private addresses -in Germany; we really don't know what happened to that stuff, and as -the prices offered by the Germans were very good, I know that a lot of -merchants here were only too glad to make business with them. Now the -new customs regulations have completely stopped this, and I can tell -you that lately Germany has not managed to get anything through the -frontiers. The German agents are still here, as well as in Rotterdam -and other towns, but they have realised that it is impossible to send -to Germany the foodstuffs, etc., which they have already stored for the -purpose, and now they have stopped buying." - - * * * - -During my last visit to Holland I was struck by a curious phenomenon. -Dutch people are very fond of humming a tune. They hum it when they -walk, when they read, when on business, while smoking huge cigars. True -enough, it is very difficult to detect the tune, as they generally -distort it in the most unexpected way, but as everybody seems to be -fond of the very same tune at the very same time, after hearing three -or four performances you usually get to know what they mean by the -series of mewings and mutterings they send out, together with abundant -puffs of white smoke. My different visits to Holland have been marked -by different favourites in the way of tunes: "Merry Widow" three years -ago, then "Dollar Princess," then "El Choclo," then "Dixie," and the -last time "Tipperary." - -Men, women, and children have really gone Tipperary-mad; they make -the most gallant efforts to master the tune, hum it all the time, ask -for it in the café or theatre, and put the Tipperary record on the -gramophone every night before going to bed. - -When at the Hague I saw at a music-hall a _revue_ in which the -Tipperary tune returned over and over again like a nightmare, and a -Dutchman at my side observed to his wife, who was marking time to the -music by alternating movements of her head, causing her corkscrew -earrings to rattle to and fro: "Isn't it a charming melody?" - -At any rate, the "charming melody" has been officially acknowledged in -Holland, and I heard the military band at the Bosch playing it in front -of the Royal villa. - -"That's a real breach of neutrality," I remarked to a Dutch officer who -was with me. "If you are not careful you will have serious trouble with -Berlin!" - -"Oh, no; we are very neutral. I, personally, am absolutely impartial, -and don't care a scrap, for instance, whether Berlin is blown up -or burnt down," he answered, repeating, for the hundredth time, a -joke which has lately captured Dutch sympathies at least as much as -"Tipperary." - -Walking through the wonderful wood which probably has no equal in -Europe, calm and imposing as it is with its green ponds and its -gigantic lime-trees, we came to the large avenue on which is the Palace -of Peace, the greatest irony in brick and stone human mind has ever -conceived. - -"You should be ashamed to talk like that, you official guardian of the -temple of European peace," I said. - -"We are jolly glad to have this big palace here," he answered, smiling. -"We are short of large barracks at the Hague!" - - * * * - -The names of Nispen, Rosendaal, Bergen-op-Zoom, and of many other -little towns and villages of North Brabant, will always in future -call to my mind the most touching scenes I have ever witnessed. The -multitude of refugees who have found asylum in the frontier towns of -Holland called to my memory the crowds of starving folk in the best of -Goya's sanguines, or the intricate groups of absent-minded humanity in -some of Previati's wonderful drawings. Every face, every movement, not -only of men and women who have _seen_ and _understood_, but even of -children, is full of pathos and tragedy. - -Even now, months and months after their flight from that hell of -sacked, burned, and destroyed towns which was Belgium before Antwerp's -capitulation, they look frightened, worried, and restless as on the day -of their arrival. - -Dutch hospitality, which has been celebrated for centuries and -centuries, has in this case surpassed itself. The crowd of starving, -penniless, terrorised people found a kindly reception, and within a few -days' time all churches, public buildings, theatres, and chapels were -transformed into lodgings for the new guests. - -But soon this was not enough, and temporary constructions had to be -erected at public expense, most of the able-bodied refugees helping in -the task. - -About 350,000 refugees are now in Holland, some in the frontier towns, -some in the large towns of South and North Holland. Rotterdam and -Amsterdam, the Hague, and Leiden and Haarlem received with outstretched -arms, dressed, sheltered, and fed their share of Belgians without -making any fuss about it, just as if it was the most natural thing to -help this wave of humanity which had come into their country. - -It may be said here that not a single charity show, fund, or special -committee has been arranged. The different corporations give what they -can or take as many refugees as they can afford to keep. The same -with private families. I have seen a humble workman offer a corner of -his bedroom and his dining-table to a Belgian boy who had lost his -parents, and consider him as one of the family. - -At Ossendrecht, quite close to the barrier of wood, barbed wire, and -stones thrown across the country road to mark the frontier of Holland -and Belgium, of peace and war, there is a little café where most of the -refugees from Antwerp made their first halt in Dutch territory, and -which really would have done a roaring trade since the beginning of -the war but for the fact that most of the customers were not even rich -enough to pay for their bun or for their glass of beer, and but for the -kind-hearted proprietress who could not refuse such comforts even if -she had no hope of getting paid for it. - -She was a tall, solid, and healthy-looking woman, who seemed to have -stepped from a Rubens canvas, with a glory of fair, curly hair and a -complexion to render jealous the brightest Haarlem tulip. When she -asked me in her curious dialect--which, as a compliment to me, was -mixed with a few English words--if I wanted "Pilsener" or "Dunkel," -she was carrying two babies of apparently the same age in her arms, one -each side. I was wondering how she would manage to bring me my drink, -when she put one of the babies on the counter and kept the other in her -arms. The baby on the counter fell asleep, but the other one started -crying desperately. - -She told me that only one of the babies, the one on the counter, -was her own, and that he was born in August; then her husband was -called away by the mobilisation order, and the refugees began to -pour into Holland like flocks of sheep chased by wolves. One day a -tired, ill-looking woman came with a baby in her arms. She crossed -the frontier and was almost carried into the little café, as she was -too faint to walk any further. She said her husband had been killed -at Liège, and asked to remain just one night. Though there was not a -single bedroom to let in the little café, the kind-hearted giantess -agreed. The next morning the Belgian woman was very ill, and in two -days she was dead. - -"The little girl was just about as old as my boy. I was strong enough -to keep the two," she concluded, with a proud smile. "Why shouldn't I -have kept the two?" - -"And what about your husband?" I asked, admiring her great simplicity. - -"I wrote him a postcard, telling everything; and he answered that for -him it would just be as if we had got twins." - -From Ossendrecht to Bergen-op-Zoom a curious steam tramcar, in the -middle of which a group of natives and refugees dry their feet at a -red-hot stove, affords me a curious place of observation. Old women, in -the celebrated lace bonnets and gilded helmets of the Dutch peasants, -seem great friends with Belgian girls, who try their best to convert -their Flemish into a language as nearly as possible Dutch. I learn that -a lot of refugees go on daily pilgrimages to the frontier, where in one -way or another they manage to get some news, or at least a talk with -their country-people who continuously come out of Belgium. - -The refugees' most difficult task is apparently to find each other. I -know of sisters from Malines with their families who have been living -for two months within a few hundred yards one of the other, and each -believing the other killed or gone to England. One finds everywhere, -carved into trees, scribbled on walls, or written on pieces of paper -nailed here and there, addresses of refugees wishing and trying to meet -old friends or relations. - -Sometimes the address is a sensible one, but often one cannot help -laughing on learning that the present address of a refugee's family, or -part of it, is a church, or a theatre, or a motor garage, or even, as I -have seen, a stable or cellar. - -At Bergen-op-Zoom the refugees are certainly twice as numerous as the -ordinary residents, and the little town, the present look of which -belies its bellicose traditions, has been given up completely to them. - -Here the refugees can get their meals for nothing, or, if they can -afford to pay for them, for a few coppers, and the depôts of foodstuffs -specially reserved for them are so gigantic that they seem sufficient -to keep the whole country going for a long time. - -I have assisted at a dinner of refugees in a large schoolroom close -to the Hof van Holland Hotel; hot steaming soup, vegetables, roast -meat, cheese, and ham were freely given away by young girls in the -picturesque costume of the country. - -The food seems excellent. The convivial scene reminded me more of the -dinner of country people than of a charity meal. A faint smile comes -back to most of the refugees' faces as they eat. - -This war, the simple and noble manner in which the Dutch have given all -they could to the refugee Belgians, will certainly kill for ever the -century-long jealousies which were still alive a few months ago. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -ANTWERP--THE DEAD CITIES OF BRABANT - - -One must have known Belgium before the war, and have travelled through -that rich and beautiful country in times of peace, to realise how great -is the change. All that has been written up to now about what has -happened there is in reality much less than the truth. - -Every town, large and small, every country village, one might almost -say every inch of Belgian soil, bears the heavy mark of the invaders. -What nobody dared to touch they have destroyed; what was believed to be -protected by religion and tradition they have profaned; what centuries -had made sacred for any thinking being they have demolished. - -We send to prison and often take the life of the man who kills another -man. Here defenceless old folk, women, and children have been killed by -thousands without a motive, even without a pretext. We rage impotently -at the earthquake which destroys towns and takes the toll of life. -Here human beings have surpassed the earthquake. We shiver at the idea -that a fire could destroy the treasures of art which are often the -only chain which links us to past generations. Here men who proclaimed -themselves the greatest admirers of all the arts stood by and watched -the treasures of the world burn by the flames they themselves had -lighted. - -I have been practically across the whole of Belgium, from east to west, -from north to south. From Antwerp to Liége, from Namur to Tournai and -to Ghent, by road and by rail, but mostly on foot, on horseback, or -by prehistoric vehicles, as it is impossible to get a motor-car at -any price. Always the same sight. A population that hardly dares to -hope, aching for real news--a population that is feeling a grief too -deep for tears, and is plunged into a tragic, dumb sorrow. There it -lives and works under the mocking eye of the Conqueror. Sometimes this -Conqueror is frankly rude and violent, as he loves to feel and to look -like the real descendants of that Attila he has glorified. Sometimes he -takes on a mask of scoffing politeness which is still more unbearable. -During the first month or so the Germans tried to make friends with the -population; the men tried to mix with the people; the officers with the -best families. Their advances always received an icy though more or -less polite reception, so now the enemy has assumed an air of disdain -for the weak little nation it is keeping under its heel. - -The little steamboat which took me from Flushing to Antwerp all across -the Escaut was laden with a pathetic crowd. There were mothers going -back to see their sons, who, being of age liable to military service, -had not been allowed to leave Belgium; parents whose only desire was -to discover the grave of their son; people who, having come to an end -of their resources, were going back to their deserted ruined homes, to -their little piece of land which is now covered by water two feet deep. - - * * * - -When we sight Antwerp it is already dusk, and round us is the large -harbour, which has completely lost its wonderful multiform life. -Carcases of old boats, breasts and keels of sunken ships, emerge from -the lead-like water, suggesting the terrific curves of prehistoric -monsters. Some of these boats were sunk by the British before they -left. Others were sunk by the Germans, who madly shelled their own -mercantile ships together with those of the Allies. On the top of a -mast a French flag is still being washed continuously by the waves. - -The complicated landing formalities distract my attention from the -contemplation of this cemetery of ships. We are searched three times. -Every scrap of paper in our pockets, every single article in our -luggage, is carefully examined. Then our passports. Very few of these -seem complete enough to please the German authorities. A man who is -travelling with somebody else's pass is discovered and taken away. -Two ladies are not allowed to land, and they are taken back on board -screaming and crying; in two days they will be sent back to Holland. -Only German is spoken here, though nearly all the officials know French -perfectly. If one does not understand German, one cannot possibly get -on. After a couple of hours we are allowed to go into the town. No more -taxi-cabs are running owing to the shortage of petrol, and also to the -fact that all vehicles have been taken up by the German Government. The -town is dark for fear of an aerial attack. Patrols of Landsturm men -pass continuously across the principal street, and fill the town with -the squeaky noise of their nailed boots. The password is loudly shouted -when they meet another patrol. - -At the hotel everybody is German, from the manager to the liftman and -to the chambermaids. As for the guests, they are all German officers. -Every good hotel in Belgium is at the present moment inhabited almost -exclusively by German officers, and outside the main doors a white, -black, and red striped sentry-box has taken the place of the majestic -doorkeeper. - -Most of the officers are not alone; they have sent for their wives, and -very often even their children, nursemaids, servants, and dogs. - -I am told the German Government is encouraging this kind of thing, -and offers special travel facilities for wives and families. Lately -non-commissioned officers and men have been allowed to send for their -families. I don't know the real reason of all this, but it is certain -that the Germans are trying hard to give the Belgians the impression -that they have come to stay. In many places they have taken houses or -flats for a year, and have paid for them in advance, and in some small -towns in which it is not possible to get a comfortable residence they -have started the construction of new villas and cottages. - -I walk down the Avenue de Keyzer and enter a very large restaurant, -which seems also completely in German hands. Even the menu is printed -in German, and hardly a single Belgian enters the huge establishment. I -ask for some newspapers, and I am told they can only get German ones; -at ten o'clock every light must be out. People walking in the street -without special permits after half-past ten are likely to be arrested. - -Antwerp is probably the most Germanised town in all Belgium, owing to -the fact, I believe, that even before the war any amount of German -people lived here, and nearly all the hotels were already in German -hands. The town itself does not appear much damaged by the bombardment. -Now and again a large hole or a burnt ruin shows the spot were a bomb -has burst, but to see real destruction one must go to the southern -suburbs, outside the Porte de Berckem. - -Here are the old forts, some half destroyed by shells, some still -untouched, and most of the houses show wide open wounds, red with -freshly smashed bricks. Most of the forts are now converted into -barracks for the German troops, and near every one of them is a small -cemetery, with many a glorious name written on the rough, white wooden -crosses. - -Though most of the actual fighting took place outside the old -fortification near the new fortresses, at about three miles' distance -from the town, some of the old seventeenth-century forts have received -their share of shells, and do not seem to have done at all badly, -considering the very modern artillery which has beaten them. - -Antwerp has lost more than three-quarters of its usual population, a -large part of which joined the army or escaped to Holland and England. -That is why, perhaps, foodstuff is still comparatively cheap here, and -everything except bread and vegetables seems fairly plentiful. Flour is -very scarce, and all sort of ingredients are used in its place. - -Curiously enough, while bread is scarce and very bad even in the best -restaurants, and while in most villages people are forbidden to buy -more than a small ration per head, confectioners' shops are full of -cakes and sweets of all descriptions. I could not help thinking of the -words attributed to a fine lady of France: "Il n'y a plus de pain? -Pourquoi ne mangent-ils pas de la brioche?" - -As for vegetables, the Belgian gardens have been completely swamped by -the inundations, and the produce imported from Germany does not seem to -go very far. - -There has been apparently a quiet exodus of works of art from Antwerp's -famous museums to Germany, though apparently most of the Rubens, -Rembrandts, Van Dycks, and Teniers, which were the gems of the Antwerp -collections, were taken away before the arrival of the Huns, and are -said to be now in a very safe place. Some of the remainder have now -found their way to Germany. By the way, some of the rarest specimens -of the Zoo animals have shared the fate of the old masters, and now -languish behind alien bars. - -The town is infested with spies, who are relentlessly hunting down -Frenchmen and Englishmen. As a matter of fact, everyone who comes into -Belgium is provided straight away with a sort of guardian angel, who -very often does not leave him for many days, and possibly not before he -has given him some trouble with the German Kommandantur. - -This has happened to me, as I will relate later on, and also to most -American and Dutch subjects who get into Belgium at the present moment. - -Some of them, for the simple fact that they are journalists, are taken -to Germany and interned there, and when the Embassies of the different -countries protest and claim their subjects, the Government of Berlin -answers that the captured journalists are not considered as prisoners, -but are only detained for a certain time--that is to say, for as long -as the news they have gathered remains important if made public. - -Another variety of the so-called German Secret Service is the -agent-provocateur, who generally speaks perfect French and Flemish, -and gets a fixed sum for every arrest effected by the police on his -initiative. - -In Antwerp I saw one of these spies approach an old gentleman who had -a Belgian rosette in his buttonhole. He was on a tramcar platform, and -the spy said to him, "Very bitter weather for our poor little soldiers -at the front, isn't it, sir?" The old gentleman evidently knew the -identity of his companion, for he simply stared at the rascal and -turned his face the other way. - -The favourite ground of action of this army of spies is the railway -carriage. There acquaintances are easily and quickly made. I very often -saw people taken away at the station by two soldiers, while the hero -of this beautiful deed was following at a short distance with his face -wreathed in the happiest of smiles. - -To travel in Belgium now is a complicated task; railways are completely -taken over by the German War Office, and only Germans are employed. -Not even the old porters are allowed in the stations. No tickets are -given without a special pass from the Kommandantur of the town, saying -where the applicant wishes to go, for how long, and for what reason. -Then you pay for your ticket, provided you make yourself understood by -the German employees, and you have the exact amount in marks and not -in Belgian money. There are only third-class carriages at first-class -fares--für Zivilpersonen--all the other first and second class -carriages are marked Nur für Heeresangehorige--those who don't pay -evidently. - -Before arriving on the platform you are searched by very rude soldiers -wearing a large crescent-shaped brass plate with the word "polizei" -suspended to their necks by a chain, like a metal label on a brandy -bottle. - -After this you carry your own luggage to the train, which is -thoughtfully kept waiting a quarter of a mile outside the station, in -rain or snow, and sit down in a freezing carriage without any light or -heating, but possibly with one or more windows smashed. Half an hour -or so after the fixed time the train begins to move; a little notice, -in German naturally, tells you not to put your head outside the window -while crossing a bridge because sentries will shoot at you, and another -notice says that, owing to the crisis, you may be asked to step out of -the carriage at any moment and without any right to protest, even if -you happen to have the pluck to do so. - -And ultimately, after hours waiting in intermediate railway stations, -after changing trains two or three times on a ten miles' fare, you -sometimes arrive; you and your luggage are searched once again, and -then you are let out. - -I feel sure most of those gentlemen got their iron crosses for much -less than this Odyssey. - - * * * - -It was five o'clock in the afternoon when I walked out of Louvain -station on to a muddy piece of uneven ground surrounded by ruins which -were once the station square. It was a grey day, and a few stray flakes -of snow were blown by the icy whirlwind in all directions. The weather -was perfectly consonant with the general aspect of the town. - -Right and left I could discover nothing but ruins; it was hard to -tell which was the road and which the site of former buildings. -Enormous masses of calcinated bricks and stones are all that remain -of the houses which have collapsed; as for the others which are still -standing, their appearance is still more tragic. All the inside part, -the ceilings, the staircases, the roofs, have been burned away, and the -outer wall, all out of perpendicular, still shows the pots of flowers, -the iron bars, and the metallic parts of the shutters which were burned -away. - -Entire rows of houses protrude on the street as if they are going to -collapse at any minute; others lean backwards just as if they were -frightened; others are all leaning on the right or the left side as if -a terrible wind had forced them into that unnatural position. - -Here at another spot the walls of two houses touch each other at the -top, forming a sort of pointed arch. The steeple of a little church -leans far more than the famous Pisa Tower. - -From every window there hangs a curious sort of transparent stalactite, -which at first sight looks like an icicle, and is formed by the -window glass melted in the dreadful heat. A three-floor house has -collapsed completely except for the wall facing the street, and at -one of the second-floor windows a bird-cage, suspended by a chain, is -still hanging, and the blizzard rattles it continuously to and fro. -For the fire has got a sort of sinister humour of its own. Here it -has destroyed completely the powerful masonry of a fifteenth-century -house whose walls were four feet thick, and next door it has blackened -without burning a fragile-looking cottage, and even left a white and -red check curtain hanging from the window. Further down, a butcher's -shop has completely disappeared, but a large metallic sign with an -enormous bull painted on it is still at its place, sustained, a miracle -of balance, by the frame of the burned awning. - -I walk down the Rue de la Station to the Grand' Place. Here was the -fine theatre in Italian renaissance; now only the four pillars of the -front mark the place where it was standing. Farther down, near the -gigantic ruins of the University and the Library, is the once-famous -Cathedral of St. Peter. - -Up to a few months ago this building was one of the most beautiful -examples of the Flemish florid-Gothic. All lovers of old things -remember its windows, made more elegant than those of any other -Gothic cathedral by a sort of carved balcony, its steep roof, its -solid-looking, severe front without the traditional portals. Now all -this has disappeared. The roof has collapsed. The wonderfully painted -stained windows are no more. The carvings have been reduced to -shapeless calcinated stones, and the bricks underneath, re-baked by -the flames, show themselves as red as a fresh wound. A notice stuck on -what was a beautifully carved oak door tells me that the entrance to -the cathedral is strictly "verboten." But a couple of marks make the -soldier on guard close both eyes, and he lets me in after having warned -me not to say a word or make any noise, as pieces of burned wood and of -cornice are dropping down at the slightest movement. - -Inside one walks on a bed of rubbish four to seven feet deep. The huge -pillars stand without supporting any vault, like useless date trees. -The famous tabernacle of Mathieu de Layens has been cracked by the -heat, and tattered blackened pieces of canvas hang from the walls once -covered with paint. As for the twenty-four little statues which used to -decorate the choir, they have disappeared. I don't know if they were -taken away by the priests before the destruction of the cathedral or -stolen by the Germans after it. - -Outside, the streets are nearly deserted. A few soldiers, a few -ragged people begging for a copper or a piece of bread, these I see; -a few of the old inhabitants searching the remains of their homes and -contemplating, with the look of somebody who sees an old friend, every -bit of metal, every fragment of pottery they happen to find. They have -constructed temporary shelters and collected therein what the flames -have spared. Some are looking under their house ruins for a member of -the family who has disappeared. Every day a new corpse is found. In -every square are fresh graves, and the very day of my visit five more -victims of German violence had been buried right in the middle of the -station square, all round the statue of Van der Weyer, which has been -respected probably as an homage to its ugliness. The Kommandant of -Louvain insisted that the victims should be buried there, and not in -the cemetery, "to set a good example!" - -In this phrase is the reason of the destruction of the harmless little -town--a reason which has puzzled the whole world. - -For the most dreadful part of the destruction of Louvain is that -there has been no fighting, no shelling, nothing of what we generally -understand by the word war. The town had been quietly occupied by the -Germans, and they forced the population to leave their houses without -carrying anything with them. People who tried to save anything were -robbed of what they had taken with them, the earrings were pulled out -of the women's ears (I have seen a body with both the ear-lobes torn in -two), the pockets searched, and in more than one case anybody who was -found to be carrying something was immediately shot. - -Petrol and some other new liquid combustible quite recently discovered -in a Berlin laboratory, and which the Louvain people have christened -"Colofogne du Diable," were poured abundantly on the whole town, -except, perhaps, on twenty houses inhabited by Germans. I saw, in -one of the station rooms, the fire engines which have been used for -this purpose, fire engines which bear the arms of the City of Louvain, -and which, with cruel irony, were used to set fire to the town they -had been created to save. Specially made bombs were thrown into every -house, and the Germans retired outside the town on the great boulevard -to enjoy a spectacle really worthy of Nero. - -But at Louvain the Germans have surpassed Nero. While the town was -still burning all the population, regardless of age or sex, was -arranged in a single line near Mont César. And then the most dreadful -thing happened. - -The Romans, to subdue soldiers' rebellions, invented a punishment which -always seemed to the world the limit of cruelty--decimation. - -The Germans at Louvain did the same thing, but they beat the Romans. -Every third man was the victim. I met a gentleman who had been twice -through this ordeal. He was still young, but his hair was grey, and -his eyes had in them a far-off expression of terror. Near the cathedral -somebody pointed out to me a young woman gone mad through having lost -her husband and brother in this way. - - * * * - -From Louvain to Malines the country shows all the signs of dreadful -desolation. Flooded land covered with ice, under which the dead lie by -hundreds, pieces of wood crowned by Belgian képis or Prussian helmets -marking the grave of officers--this is the sight. Flooded trenches -and rusty wirework, burned or cut trees, telegraphic poles smashed by -shells, and again burned houses and windmills, some of the large wings -of which have been amputated, and little ruined châteaux on the top of -which waves a German flag. - -The train passes the Dyle on a temporary bridge constructed at the side -of the old one destroyed by the retreating Belgians. Here were many -large greenhouses in which the cultivation of the orchid had reached -its highest degree of perfection. Now they look like enormous cages, -every one of their windows having been smashed. - -Malines station gives you an idea of what the whole town looks like. -A large placard tells you that the town is now called Mecheln, and -underneath it is a large picture of the general who ordered the -shelling of the town, but met his death the same day. German soldiers -keep the frame constantly decorated with laurel branches. The glass -roof is torn by an enormous hole, through which the snow enters freely. -The waiting-room has also an extra aperture, and a bomb has taken -away every bit of the stucco work and left the walls completely bare. -Malines was not set on fire; all the ruin brought on it was due to -the blind violence of the high explosives. Evidently they are not as -destructive as the people who have invented them, and the town does not -look half as bad as Louvain. - -Though very few of the houses are untouched, the general aspect of the -quiet town has not changed much. Only one or two of the large domes and -steeples which used to emerge from the roofs of the small houses have -disappeared, and the unfinished tower of St. Rombaut has altered its -massive silhouette a little. - -Now and again I see deep holes, caused by shells, and houses which -have lost a corner, and allow a glance of their domestic life through -a large crevice. Here a quiet "béguinage" has received a projectile -in full, and from the street I can see a whitewashed room with a -decapitated painted crucifix, and hanging to a nail a black bonnet of -the old Brabant country woman. - -I think of the tragedy of the poor old lady who received that -unexpected visit in the very room in which she had chosen to end her -life. The "béguinages" of Malines are said to be the most strict of -the whole of Belgium, and in some of them the old women live for years -without seeing an outsider. Where are now the poor old things who -thought every day's life full enough of private worries, and have now -been reached in their seclusion by this dreadful catastrophe? - -Curiously enough, Malines, which can be considered as the religious -metropolis of Belgium, establishes a real record in the way of sieges, -pillages, and plunders. French, English, Dutch have often taken and -half destroyed the town, and ultimately Napoleon dismantled it in 1804. -Some old twelfth and thirteenth century houses which have resisted all -previous trials have been fatally hit now. The Grand' Place, which -used to delight the lovers of old Flemish constructions, has greatly -suffered, and the shells with subtle perversity have spared some ugly -modern buildings and raged on what centuries had respected. - -Alas! these descriptions of destroyed towns, of murder and pillage; -the stories of unbelievable atrocities, even only those which I know -are true, the pictures of misery and famine which nobody would have -believed possible in our times, could be continued page after page. - -But what happened in the towns is nothing compared with what happened -in the country. There, far from the control of high officers, the -blonde beast has given way to all the brutal follies of which the Hun -is now known to be capable. - -I have seen and heard things that disgust keeps me from writing; -things compared with which the excesses of the French Revolution, the -bloodthirsty pleasures of some barbarian kings, the exploits of some -notorious brigands, are but the A B C of an art in which the German -army has certainly reached the highest possible standard of perfection. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -BRUSSELS, TOURNAI, AND THE GERMAN FRONT - - -To penetrate into Belgium with a passport which proves, alas! too -clearly that the bearer of it has been twice to Berlin, once to -Constantinople, and often to Paris since the war broke out, and that he -has had his passport _visé_ at the various Consulates in London, is, as -a Belgian friend told me, asking for trouble. - -My troubles really began before leaving Holland. The German Consul in -Flushing makes all foreigners who want to go to Belgium (though there -are few enough who attempt the adventure) sign a special declaration -saying that they take the full responsibility of their own act; no -passports are given to leave Belgium, and people going in are likely -to be kept there up to the end of the war. - -The night before, at the Albion, an inn which arrogates to itself -the pompous name of Grand Hotel, I met two Belgian refugees who had -succeeded in escaping from Belgium two days before, crossing the -marshes and wireworks near Maesevck; and though I did not fancy this -way was a very comfortable one, I couldn't see why I should not use it -myself in case of necessity. - -At any rate, I bravely signed the paper, with the idea that something -or somebody would get me out of trouble, and, as a matter of fact, I -did not have trouble during the first part of my journey. - -I began to think that all that had been said about the cleverness -of the German police was a little exaggerated. But at the end of my -first day in Brussels, having retired to my room in the hotel, I was -just going to bed, when I received a visit from two gentlemen who, I -learned, were members of the German police. They were accompanied by -four helmeted and fully-armed soldiers, two of whom remained in the -corridor outside the door, while the other two stood like mummies, one -at each side of the bed. First one of the two civilians, who seemed -the higher-placed, informed me in excellent English that I was a very -suspicious person, that the police were perfectly aware of what I was -doing in Belgium, and that the Imperial Government would take against -me any steps it thought suitable. - -I answered in French that I did not understand him, and that I had my -passport in perfect order. "It is easy to have a passport, but the -Imperial Government is not the dupe of such childish tricks." He then -ordered his companions to search the room. As for myself, the search -was made extremely easy by the simplified costume I happened to be -wearing. - -I have had lately a few experiences of this sort, but the one in -Brussels easily beat all the former ones. The police inspector in -Berlin and the Turkish Custom House officers are as blind as bats and -as superficial as amateurs compared with this man, who I honestly -thought was Argus himself. He examined my luggage, my linen, my -clothes, assured himself that nothing was concealed underneath the -linings, looked for a double bottom in my bag, for receptacles in my -watch-case, and produced from his roomy pockets a miniature hammer with -which he made sure that the rather high heels of my boots were not -hollow. - -I suppose I could not help smiling while he was taking all this useless -trouble, and the other man remarked that I need not make my position -still worse by behaving insultingly to the representative of the -Imperial police. - -When he had finished searching my things, the polizeier talked to -his chief, and said in German, which language they did not know I -understood, that I had evidently concealed the documents somewhere -in the room. Lying on the floor or climbing on the chairs, helping -himself with an electric torch and with a sort of paper-knife which -belonged to the arsenal of his professional belongings, he searched the -carpet, the furniture, the bed, the shade of the electric light, the -pipes of the bath--in a word, everything. - -The man seemed so keen on his job that I really felt sorry I had not -anything with me which would give him the pleasure of a sensational -discovery. He reminded me of a ratter in which the gift of search is -sure and instinctive. - -When he thought he had found something behind the drawer of the -dressing-table his eyes shone with delight, and his voice had suddenly -an intonation of supreme joy. But he could only produce the catalogue -of a furrier, evidently left by one of the former occupants of the -room. Finally he had to give up searching, and the whole company -departed, taking my passport and all my papers with them, promising -another visit on the following morning, and informing me not to try -and leave the hotel, or even my room, because such an attempt would be -useless. - -The next morning, at seven o'clock, only the two civilians came back, -and told me to dress as quickly as possible, and follow them to the -Kommandantur. I said I was quite ready to please them, but, to teach -them a little patience, had a comfortable bath, polished my nails to -the highest possible brightness, spent as long as possible in shaving, -dressing, and having my _petit déjeuner_, while the chambermaid was -packing my luggage. - -When I followed the two polizeiern I said to her, "I hope you don't -believe I have taken anybody's pocket-book?" "Certainly not, sir," she -answered quite seriously. "All well-to-do people in Brussels have been -taken to the Kommandantur this year; _l'arrestation est très portée à -présent_." - -Reassured by the assertion of the witty maid, which I acknowledged -with an extra tip, I went with my two companions to a smart motor-car -waiting for us outside. I feel indebted to the Germans for the only -motor ride I managed to have in Brussels, no public or private car -being allowed on the road, unless for military or police service. - -At the police station a new and long interrogatory, followed by the -seizure of all the money I had on me. Then I was confronted with a spy -who had followed me about in my pilgrimage all over Belgium for five -days. Not a single one of my moves had been missed from the moment I -landed in Antwerp. A sort of long affidavit was drawn up containing all -the accusations against me (I do not know exactly even now what they -were), as well as my declaration and a complete list of the papers, -books, and money I had with me. I asked permission to communicate with -one of the neutral Consuls who are still in Brussels, but this was -denied me, so I had to wait four or five hours, after which, having had -a filthy German meal, always accompanied by my two polizeiern, in the -canteen of an infantry regiment, I was taken to the Kommandantur. - -The canteen was prepared for the celebration of the Kaiser's birthday; -flags and pictures of the War Lord were all over the walls, and in a -passage were piles of little boxes, sent by the Berlin population to -the troops as a homage to the Kaiser, and containing sweets, tobacco, -chocolates, and dreadful-looking handkerchiefs with the whole royal -family printed on them. - -The Kommandantur was in possession of the Palais de la Nation, and here -I was kept waiting two hours. Then, I suppose, not to rid me of a good -habit, I was searched once again, then asked to repeat exactly all that -was in my passport. As I could not say the exact date of one or another -_visé_ at the different Consulates, I was told that I had stolen the -passport and a lot of other nonsense of the kind. - -I required all my large stock of patience and good humour to stand -this trying time. It was getting dark, and I began to think that I -should have to pass the night at the Kommandantur, when my adventure -suddenly came to an utterly unromantic end by the intervention of a -friend of mine who happens to be very influential in Brussels at the -present moment. I feel rather ashamed about it. A stout colonel with -the unavoidable iron cross, and the baldest head I have ever seen in my -life, was interrogating me for the hundredth time, when he was suddenly -put into the nicest of dispositions towards me by a letter sealed with -a coat-of-arms I know quite well. It was brought to him on a silver -tray by a Landsturm man. - -The colonel began to apologise, saying that he felt certain I should -understand things, and that really nothing would have happened "if you -had not looked so extremely English." - -I answered that I could not and did not wish to help my looks, and that -I had thoroughly enjoyed the experience. "We happen to stay at the same -hotel, I believe," he continued; "won't you dine with us to-night?" - -I thought it was my turn to have a little of my own back, and, looking -straight at him, I answered in my very best argot, "Ah ça non par -example!" and I stepped out, enjoying thoroughly the servile bows of -the two men who had searched me in the morning. - -They gave me back my luggage, papers, and money, but in German notes -instead of gold; and though I protested, as gold fetches in Belgium -about twenty-seven francs per pound, they simply answered that no gold -was allowed in Belgium, and I had to give in on this point. But I got -any amount of pleasure, quite worth the money they made me lose, by -telling them a few simple truths, which generally one cannot afford to -tell to a German unless one happens to meet him somewhere out of reach -of the police. - - * * * - -After my visit to the ruined towns of East Belgium I naturally expected -to see in Brussels the depressed appearance and the lifeless look of -the other parts of the country. I was therefore extremely surprised to -find the town with all its shops and its theatres open, and with its -everyday life in full swing. - -The German authorities try to keep things as lively as possible in -Brussels, and, up to a certain point, they succeed in doing so. -Officers and men have received very special orders; they can do -anything they like in the small provincial towns, but they must be -fairly polite to the population in Brussels. As long as the capital has -not been pillaged, burned, or shelled, the German Government thinks to -have in its hands proof that no useless damage was done, and that the -tragic happenings in the other towns were indirectly the fault of the -"treacherous Belgians." - -Another reason for this special treatment of Brussels is that though -the Ambassadors of foreign States have left for Le Havre, a few members -of the legations of neutral countries still remain in the town who -would be compromising and official witnesses of any useless acts of -cruelty. And this is why Brussels is the only Belgian town with a -garrison of crack troops and well-to-do officers, the only town in -which theatres are open (by special command of the Government of -Brussels), and the only town in which restaurants and cafés keep open -till eleven o'clock--some even till midnight, German time. - -The question of time is really very curious. One of the first acts of -the invaders was to impose, or rather try to do so, the Berlin hour -on Belgium. Everybody stuck to the old Belgian time, which is an hour -earlier than the German. - -Then the Germans forced the sacristans of the different churches to put -the steeple clocks back an hour, but, as by a miracle, the old clocks, -many of which had been going for centuries, developed trouble of some -kind or another, and suddenly stopped. Now it is only the Royal Palace -and station clocks that mark German time; all the others have stopped -or are undergoing endless repairs. - -The time at which his watch is set is now a sign by which you can -detect the sympathies of a person. When you sit in a tramcar or in a -café, and somebody wishes to ask you a question, he glances first at -your wrist, and, from the time of your watch, knows whether you are a -friend or a foe. - -The great majority of the Belgian population--I mean, of the Belgians -who stuck to their homes, as should have been done by everybody--behave -in a very dignified manner, and ignore the Germans almost completely. -Nearly everybody, rich and poor, wears a Belgian rosette or King -Albert's portrait in the buttonhole, and by so doing defy the Germans, -who regularly rage at the sight. - -A little story on this subject is often repeated in Brussels. A German -officer asked a lady to take off the rosette she was wearing, but she -refused. - -"Very well, then," he said, "I will do it myself," and catching hold of -the rosette he threw it on the floor and stamped his foot upon it. The -lady stared at him contemptuously, and said, "After all, a rosette is -much easier to take than Paris." She then walked away. - -German soldiers have lately received the order not to bother about -such trifles in Brussels, and everybody who wishes to do so can wear -the colours of his country without serious consequences. I was really -astonished at the appearance of some of the Brussels shops. Belgian -flags and large pictures of the King and the Royal family, flanked by -engravings of the Sovereigns of England and Russia, were shown in the -windows, together with some clever caricatures and artistic etchings of -"Bruxelles pendant l'occupation," a legend which means that it is hoped -the occupation will cease as soon as possible. - -To say at this moment that Belgium has been stricken by famine would -be an exaggeration. Food is certainly scarcer than before the war, but -the population is less, and consequently the prices have not risen -extraordinarily. - -At the restaurants the only dishes that are dearer are those that -contain eggs; for the others, the higher cost to the caterers is made -up for by smaller portions. - -Bread is really the only thing that is dear. The quality, of course, -varies, but the white, pure, wholesome bread formerly to be found -everywhere as part of the excellent Belgium cooking, is no more. - -From the Antwerp bread, which has now a funny taste as of dust, and the -soft part of which is browny, full of dark spots, wet and granulous, -to the brown soldier-like _pain d'ammunition_ one gets in Tournai, -from the maize and millet bread of Malines, to the still white but -damp and curiously tasteless bread of Brussels--all the bread which -was served to me during my Belgian trip showed clearly all the tricks -used to provide the country with its indispensable daily bread. What in -ordinary times would have been judged only fit for animals is now sold -at very high prices and makes the base of the flour employed. - -In places like Brussels, where a certain quantity of good flour is -still obtainable at very high prices, the bread is made with a mixture -of wheat, potato, and maize flour, but in most towns the wheat has been -used up, and the bread has to be made without it. - -In all the western parts of Belgium, all that remains of the old supply -of corn is used for the wounded and the sick. - -Pellagia, an old and almost forgotten ailment, caused by bad bread and -rotten food, has reappeared in most of the country places where the -food is worst. Some cases are really pathetic. - -A doctor who is managing a hospital near Courtrai told me that it is -impossible to get the good, healthy food indispensable in illness. -Some cases of lemons and oranges for the Belgian hospitals which -were specially allowed through the Italian frontier, in spite of the -exportation bills, have been seized by the Germans. - -Generally, German people and German hospitals in Belgium manage to get -the very best food; the native inhabitants have to be content with -what remains. - -To eat, I will not say good, but passable bread, for instance, one must -go to one of the establishments regarded as "safe" by the Germans, one -of the establishments where the Germans feed, where they can do what -they like and drink Munich beer. Such places are allowed to keep open -an hour longer than the others. - -German people have monopolised the fashionable restaurants, teashops, -and best hotels in the town. The Belgian population has completely -given up going into such establishments, and patronise only certain -others which manage, more or less, to keep the Germans away. - -The famous Café des Augustins, on the Boulevard Anspach, the manager -of which has been plucky and clever enough to do so without giving the -Government a pretext for shutting up the place, has crossed from his -lists all German wines, liqueurs, and mineral waters. As the German -Government has stopped the production of Belgian beer, in order to be -able to send the stored oats and hops to Munich and to Pilsen, and to -favour the sale of German beer in Belgium at fairly high prices, no -more beer is sold in the establishment. - -In the other restaurants, the Germanised ones, the new masters drink -beer and champagne, sing, shout, and discuss the war. - -All the smart tea-places of the capital like Matisse, the Palace, etc., -have been monopolised by the German officers, and a lady will not visit -them for anything on earth. "Ah non pas là ; il y a trop de Boches!" -declares a Bruxelloise invited to visit such a place. - -It is really a trying time for a lady in Brussels, as well as all -over Belgium. The German officers do not think it too base a thing -to look up in the Kommandantur books the names of the young women -whose husbands are either at the front or in a concentration camp in -Germany; and then a real hunting campaign begins, generally ended by -the lady leaving her own house and going to stay with relatives or -friends. The German officer's way of paying attentions to a lady varies -from following her about in the most persistent manner to sending her -bouquets of flowers, and even to operating day and night perquisition -of her house under some easily-found excuse, or without pretext at all. - -I know some instances of such cases which are very common in Brussels. -The father of one lady, who received such a visit from an officer -accompanied by two soldiers at three o'clock in the morning, is a very -highly placed Belgian official. He protested at the Kommandantur, but -the answer he had was that the officer was perfectly right in so doing. - -All German attempts to make friends with the population have failed. - -I know of officers, once personal friends of Belgian families, who have -tried in vain to revive the old acquaintance. - -Of course, there are a few families who have received the German -officers, and these are consequently in favour. In a family of parvenus -which hopes to take a better place in Brussels society if the German -occupation continues, the Kaiser's birthday was celebrated with a -dinner for officers, followed by a dance, permission being gladly -granted by the Kommandantur. - -But Brussels society, needless to say, has completely ostracised these -people. Even the Germans at heart despise them. - -"We go to the house," said the officer who told me of the Kaiser's -birthday-party, "because we have nowhere else to go, but we know -perfectly well they only do it because they think it will improve their -social position. They are not exactly the kind of people I shall like -to shake hands with when the war is over." - - * * * - -There is one part of Brussels which has never been properly -occupied--the part which lies on the other side of the port and of -the Bassin Vergote, the so-called Marolle, the East End of the Belgian -capital. During the first month of the occupation the Kommandantur -tried to establish a proper military police service there, as in the -other quarters of the town; but each night several of the men in the -patrol disappeared, and often a full patrol would meet a similar end. - -The Brussels apaches have always been armed with long thin knives, and -they took no notice of the order to give up all arms to the police. -As the high powers of Berlin did not want a wholesale imprisonment -or the destruction of the entire quarter, which would have been the -only remedy, the Kommandantur has compromised. The Marolle is occupied -during the day, and free during the night. Patrols go through it in -daylight, but when evening comes they cross the water and retire into -the old "Luna Park," now converted into a large prison and barracks. - -The high and smartest part of the town is completely given up to -the Germans. The Palais de la Nation, and the Palais du Roe, the -beautiful Palais des Beaux Arts, and the colossal Palais de Justice, -are the headquarters of the German Government of Belgium. New German -inscriptions tell the new uses of the palaces, and, what is rather -important, no reference is made to a temporary government of Belgium; -the inscriptions simply say, "German Empire--Government of the Belgian -Provinces." - -Near the Palais de Justice, which occupies a dominating position on a -hill almost in the centre of the town, twenty large siege guns have -been placed, and near them artillery officers and men connected with -the Kommandantur by a camp telephone are ready to pour on the quiet -town death and destruction should the necessity of subduing riots arise. - -The most important monuments, art galleries, and churches are said to -be mined, and the German authorities do not deny the rumour. - -On the boulevards and down the beautiful Avenue Louise, at the -Cinquantenaire, and at the Bois de la Cambre, generally full of smart -people, of horse-riders, and of carriages and motor-cars, there are now -only old Landsturm soldiers drilling and very young officers riding, -often accompanied by ladies, who, even in this the smartest of sports, -cannot get rid of a certain Teutonic awkwardness. - -The German nation has always been celebrated for her immoderate liking -for issuing long and complicated notices, warnings which are possible -only in Germany because in no other country would people take the -trouble to read them. - -In Belgium this mania has reached its highest possible point. On -the ruins of the dead cities and on the trees in the open country, -on the gates of the gardens, and on the milestones of the country -roads, everywhere where there is space enough, the German Government -has posted notices, printed in three languages--German, Flemish, -and French--headed with the German eagle and signed by the -Governor-General. - -Brussels is covered with a sort of incrustation of old and new official -notices; notices about closing time for shops and cafés, about grouping -in the streets, about meetings in clubs, about drinking spirits, about -singing forbidden songs, about buying or selling forbidden stuff, -about keeping arms, photographic cameras, or maps, about detaining -gold instead of giving it up to the banks, about giving hospitality to -refugees or foreigners, about everything on earth. - -The list of things "verboten" would probably take more than a full -page, but what is most insisted upon and is the subject of five or six -different notices is the introduction of foreign papers into Belgium -and the sale, or possession, of newspapers of any kind besides the ones -sold openly in Belgium, a full list of which is given. - -These are: a few Belgian papers, naturally issued under the vigilant -eye of the most particular of censors; some German papers, not all of -them, as many are considered much too advanced to be allowed into the -hands of Belgian people; and a Rotterdam sheet, which has the privilege -of being the only foreign journal allowed into Belgium, a privilege -more apparent than real, as the paper is notoriously in German hands. - -It will easily be understood how the Belgian population feels more than -anything else this complete lack of real news, and how eager they are -for the information which is brought in by the few refugees who succeed -in going back or by the few foreign papers they manage to smuggle in at -great risk and great expense. - -The other papers, the ones which are allowed, print the most fantastic -news. I was in Brussels the day of the Zeppelin raid on the British -coast; the aircraft, according to the news for Belgian consumption, -reached London and dropped bombs all over the metropolis. Every day -or two a great victory is claimed on either front, and the official -reports of foreign countries published in the papers are only mutilated -and distorted reductions of the real ones. - -To be found in possession of forbidden papers is extremely dangerous. - -A gentleman belonging to one of the best Brussels families was given -two months' concentration camp for translating articles from _The -Times_, and one of his office clerks, who got hold of the translations -and typed them and sold them, had to serve a six months' sentence. In -spite of all this, I managed to get a copy of _The Times_ nearly every -day, paying for it two francs fifty, which is certainly a fair price, -but not too high considering the difficulty of introducing it into -Belgium, and that it was generally only two days old. - -Up to about two months ago people would gladly pay twenty-five francs -for a copy of the paper; refugees and Dutch people used to take it in -at great risk, but now with an admirable sense of adaptability, the -German soldiers, Custom House officers, and railway employees have -organised this delicate service. - -They get _The Times_ or the _Figaro_ for twopence at the Dutch frontier -and sell it again to some agent in Brussels or straight to the public -at a nice profit. One must, of course, be extremely careful in buying -papers offered on sale by such people, as this is one of the favourite -victim-hunting systems of the numberless spies of the Kommandantur. - -In a difficult moment like the present one the Belgian Press, or the -part of it which stuck to its place and kept independent from German -influence, has assumed a very dignified attitude. - -_La Belgique_, _Le Bruxellois_, _La Patrie_, etc., publish the -different _communiqués_, French, German, English, and Russian, but -never forget to put, as an undertitle, "As transmitted to us by the -Censor." Very often the papers come out with large blank spaces, the -whole or part of an article having been censored. - -At a famous restaurant near the "Halles," which is the meeting-place of -journalistic and literary folk in Brussels, I met an old friend, now -editor of a large Brussels paper. - -He thought it was his duty not to leave the town and to try to give -the Belgian public as truthful news as possible about the war, but he -admitted the task he had assumed was almost impossible. - -All communications with foreign countries have been interrupted, and -the papers must depend completely on the censor for news. The few items -of correspondence which he could manage to get through from England -and France were not allowed to be printed, and quotations from foreign -papers are strictly forbidden. - -The German Government tried often with his paper, and with all the -others of a certain importance, to convert them into Germanophile -papers, offering large sums of money and great advantages of every -kind. Such offers were naturally refused, and now the Germans have -founded a new paper, the title of which sounds very Belgian, while the -editor and staff have been carefully selected amongst people who are, -at least as far as their name goes, thoroughly Belgian. - -This is now the leading organ of the Germanophil movement. - -"Many Belgians in London?" asked my friend, after a pause. - -"Too many," I could not help answering. - -"Oh, we know, we know. Twenty per cent. are perhaps _real_ refugees, -and the others are slackers, or people who fancy that, after all, a -season in London is the best way of dealing with the crisis. - -"I wonder if the young men who left Belgium on the pretext of -enlisting, and who are now 'acting the referee' in London, know that we -consider them a disgrace to our country? - -"If a man cannot fight with our King on the last bit of Belgian soil, -his duty is to stick to his town, to his village, or to his country -house. Especially if he is a man of wealth, and most Belgians now in -London are fairly well off, there is plenty for him to do here." - -The very same thing was repeated to me by hundreds of people while I -was in Belgium. - -A lady who ten or twelve years since has spent every winter in her -beautiful villa in Bordighera, and who, for the first time, did not -this year leave Brussels, where she is managing an emergency hospital -for children, said to me: "When you go back to England, please tell -the English that we Belgians do not want to be judged by those of us -who are now in London enjoying themselves in theatres and night clubs. -What they spend in an evening would be sufficient to keep one of our -starving families for a week. We know, from some refugees who have -come back, how even a number of young men are enjoying in England an -idle life and a free and large hospitality. Such people should not be -surprised if, when the war is over and they are back in Belgium, they -are considered as outcasts. We shall not have any room for them in our -society. They have deserted Belgium when she was most in need of them; -they have made us look like cowards in the eyes of the country which -has been helping us most gallantly, and they will not be surprised, I -think, to be ostracised by the rest of their countryfolk. - -"This war," continued the lady, who bears one of the oldest and best -names of Belgium, "this war has produced in our country a new form of -socialism--a socialism which has nothing in common with the theories -of Bebel or Marx, but which seems to derive its origin from the -Commandments of the Bible. - -"I know of ladies who would not, before the war, have thought it in -themselves to do any such useful work as looking after entire families -of refugees; others have been converted by the circumstances of war -into efficient sick nurses, relief organisers, and even into cooks for -our kitchens for the poor. I know of families who would have shivered -at the idea of having a stranger in their home, especially if that -stranger happened to be of low class, who are now giving hospitality -to whole families; I know of middle-aged gentlemen who almost every -week risk their lives to go into Holland to get letters from soldiers -fighting at the front and to bring back hope to hundreds of families. -These and our soldiers are the true Belgians." - -Poor people often told me the same thing. "Do you think we are of the -kind to allow the Germans to turn us out of our own houses?" a little -Belgian woman asked me. She was living with her five children in a -little ruined cottage near Liége, while her husband was fighting at -the front. A piece of shell remained jutting from a wall of the little -house, which had newspapers at the windows instead of glass. - -"I did not bother to have new glass put in just yet," said the little -woman, smiling; "first of all because we have no money to spare, and -also because we expect to see more fighting soon; at least, we hope -so. We know it will be hell when the Germans are pushed back, but we -are waiting anxiously for that moment. Ah! sir, this is not life; this -is worse than all being dead," she ended, kissing the fair head of her -last-born--born since the Germans came. - -In many, many towns did I hear this very same hope expressed by all -kinds and conditions of people and in the same manner: "When are we -going to get rid of them?" - -"_Get rid of them_" does not mean only that the Belgians desire to -reassume the dignity of a free nation, have their own rulers, nor see -any more pointed helmets, but also that they want to be able to start -business again, to live, to eat, to be free in every sense of the word. - -The subject of a country which has not suffered invasion for centuries -and centuries can hardly realise what all this means. - - * * * - -Perhaps the most intolerable portion of the occupants are the -civilians, who have come down in big numbers, following in a week or -two the German Army. They have joined the other Germans, those who have -been preparing for years the ground for the future invasion. Some are -occupied at the Kommandantur, some are organising the railway service, -but most belong to the secret service and to the police offices. - -The German waiters of the Palace, the Metropole, the Cecil, and all -other big hotels in Brussels appear to have been working their very -best for the Fatherland before the war began. Now they have left their -humble jobs, thrown away their mask, and found new employment with the -central police. In Brussels there are any number of such people, who -now carry themselves proudly with a white, black, and red armlet and a -pistol-case bulging beneath their coats on the left hip. - -Very few motor-cars are seen in the streets, and during my stay of -more than a week I did not see a single car driven by a civilian. The -petrol question seems to have become extremely serious. All the motor -garages are closed, and it is impossible to obtain the spirit at any -price, not only in large quantities, but even in small bottles from a -chemist's shop. - -This accounts for the boom in acetylene lamps and carbide. New large -shops selling these goods have opened all over the country. In most -villages gas and electric light have been cut off, and this is the only -means of obtaining any light. - -Here, again, Brussels has very special treatment. The town at night is -as full of light as usual--probably because the Germans know perfectly -well that if the Allies should attempt an air attack they would almost -certainly damage the civilian population more than the occupiers. Very -often, in the daytime, a Zeppelin will appear over the town; people are -so used to the sight that they take little or no notice. - -To sum up: the Brussels population has become accustomed very quickly -to the new situation. Nobody seems to mind the incessant rumble of the -guns in the distance, nor the food scarcity and high prices, nor the -abnormal life of the town. Nor the lack of amusements. - -I have said some theatres are open; they are, but only for the Germans. -The Belgian people refuse to go to them for two good reasons. They -do not want to mix with the Germans, and they do not think it right -to enjoy themselves when their country is reduced to such pitiful -conditions and their King and the remnants of his army are fighting on -the last bit of Belgian soil. - -For the Germans there are even music-hall shows and dances, and, with -that beautiful sense of tradition which, according to Nietzsche, is one -of the secrets of German clumsiness, even the decrepit institution of -Tango Teas is still kept alive. And there the Hun stuffs himself with -more champagne and costly food. - -At ten miles' distance from Brussels the inhabitants of Forest have -been rationed at half a pound of brown bread per head. - - * * * - -It is very difficult to obtain from the German Kommandantur in Belgium -permission to travel anywhere past the line of Ghent, Brussels, and -Charleroi. The permits are not readily granted even to Germans and -Belgians, and a foreigner, whatever his nationality, finds it almost -impossible to secure one. The parties of American, Italian, and German -journalists taken to visit the trenches and the supposed firing line -were really shown only a few places previously arranged. In no case -were they allowed to see the things they really wanted to see, nor were -they permitted to talk to the population or to the soldiers. - -If I wished to get near the front I realised that I must find a very -convincing pretext. I happened to have some friends, proprietors of -large motor works in Tournai, so I managed to obtain a pass for this -town, alleging some business transactions as my excuse. - -From Brussels the train only took me as far as Enghien, from which -little town I had to proceed by road in an impossible vehicle pulled -by an old horse, so old and worn out that it had escaped German -requisition. It must have been a very old horse to escape that. - -Curiously enough, the part of Belgium I crossed while approaching the -German front seemed to have suffered very little. No ruins and no -burned houses. Indeed, but for the sentries posted on the road every -quarter of a mile, one could have thought the country was at peace. - -But a few miles before Tournai was reached the country began to assume -a warlike appearance. - -Numerous trenches, which evidently had never been used, and which were -filled with ice-covered water, lay ready for an eventual retreat. -From this point up to the front there were long lines of trenches -at frequent intervals. Before reaching Tournai I passed a military -aerodrome, which had been arranged in a large treeless piece of ground -near Basècles. Two large Zeppelin shelters and some temporary hangars, -capable of holding about ten aeroplanes, had been erected. - -One of the Zeppelins was just coming back from the direction of -Brussels when we passed; two aeroplanes had been taken out in the open -air, and a number of soldiers were busy round them. - -Though Tournai is not very near the front the town is completely -occupied by German troops, and is treated as a town in the battle zone. -This is because the town occupies a very important position on the -River Schelde and because Lille, about twenty kilometres westward is -too close to the firing line to permit of its being used as a base. - -All the bridges on the river are mined, most of the houses have been -converted into temporary hospitals for slightly wounded soldiers, and -the town is filled with officers and men just back from the trenches. - -Never before had I seen German soldiers newly returned from the field -of battle. Nothing remained of the well-dressed, well-fed, and stiff -troops generally seen in Germany. Their uniforms were torn and dirty; -their faces unshaven, thin, and often unhealthy. They did not sing, -they were not noisy. I saw them in cafés and restaurants writing long -letters home, with a large glass of beer in front of them. - -Often in the same establishment were groups of bright young soldiers in -comparatively fresh uniforms, soldiers who were cheering and singing -because next day they were going to the front. They were men of the -'95 and '96 classes who had just come from Germany. The veterans were -looking at them, and I heard one say to another, "They will cool down -soon; they don't know yet what the trenches are like." - -Tournai has seen going through its streets most of the German wounded -on their way back to the Fatherland and most of the prisoners -travelling to the concentration camps in Germany. Nobody could tell -me, even approximately, the number of wounded that had gone through -the town, but everybody agreed the number was very large, though the -number of sick is still larger. Typhoid fever claims a large number of -victims, both amongst the troops and the civilian population. - -Special notices warning everyone to drink no water unless it had been -boiled were to be seen everywhere. Lately numerous cases of lockjaw -(tetanus) have also made their appearance. It is said that soldiers get -the dreadful illness while working with barbed wire. - -The station of Tournai, as well as two large hotels near it, have been -converted into depôts for the wounded who are to be sent to Germany. -Apparently the German Government does not like wounded or sick soldiers -to come into touch with civilians or with soldiers going to the front. -It is to avoid such contact that they are concentrated in Tournai, -and from there sent _viâ_ Mons, Liége, Aix-la-Chapelle, straight to -Germany. No civilians are allowed into the station at Tournai, and the -wounded always travel by special train. - -For the prisoners it is different. They are marched through the town, -preceded and followed by German troops. The population offers them -cigars, sweets, and tobacco, to the great rage of the German soldiers, -who can never manage to make any friends. Very often the same group of -soldiers is made to march through the town many times to impress the -population with the large number of prisoners. - -A lady who has been in Tournai since the beginning of the war told me -that she once noticed amongst a group of British soldiers a very tall, -thin, and red-haired Highlander, and she remarked to a lady friend with -her, "Isn't that man the living caricature of the Englishman as we -always see him on the stage?" - -But two or three days later she saw a fellow exactly like the first -amongst another group of prisoners; she came to the conclusion that -the giraffe-like figures and ginger hair were rather common in the -British Army. - -The next day brought another group of British prisoners and another -apparition of a very tall, red-haired "Tommy." She looked at him -interrogatively, at which he bowed and shouted out in a jolly voice: -"Here I am again, madam." The lady bid him good-bye, but the Tommy -laughed, and answered, "No, _au revoir_. I shall call again soon, I am -sure." - -I wanted to get as near the firing line as possible, and I asked -permission to go to Lille. This was denied me, and as, considering the -enormous number of sentries on the roads, it would have been foolish -to try and go there without it, I decided to go instead to Courtrai, -a little town north of Tournai, which is only about twelve kilometres -(about eight miles) from the firing line. - -Tournai, which is not at all damaged in the centre of the town, has -a number of houses destroyed in its northern part. The wonderful -cathedral, a mixture of twenty different styles, but, in spite of this, -quite harmonious and beautiful, has received a shell which luckily has -not done much damage. - -Four large motor-vans passed in front of me on the road to Courtrai, -and my horse, which in former years had probably been a good charger, -reared and neighed loudly. They were Red Cross vans loaded with -wounded. Four or five times a day they go to Tournai carrying wounded, -and come back carrying sanitary material to the northern section of the -German front. - -I crossed the Schelde by a temporary bridge made with curious concrete -flat boats. The bridge was guarded by numerous soldiers, and with them -was an Austrian officer, the only one I saw during the whole of my -journey in Belgium. - -I had to get off the saddle and show my papers. While waiting for -the officer to look at them, my attention was attracted to an -extraordinary-looking boat drawn up near the river side. The boat was -just like one of the ordinary flat, large river boats which in Belgium -carry stones and coal on canals and rivers, but for an exceptionally -clean, smart appearance lent to it by a verandah covered with glass, -under which were numerous palm trees. The whole boat was painted -white, and on the top of it waved the Red Cross flag. On deck were -two white-clad nurses, and one or two wounded with bandaged heads sat -smoking and reading in basket-chairs on the verandah. - -I was told that the boat is one of the Berlin Red Cross League floating -hospitals, and that the nurses are all ladies in society. These -hospital boats are specially intended for wounded or sick officers who -are likely to recover soon if properly treated. - - * * * - -Are there any inhabitants left in Courtrai? I did not see any during -my visit there. The hotels and the public buildings were taken up by -Germans; numerous platforms for guns were being constructed in the -western part of the town. A number of temporary fortification works -had already been prepared here. The line of the Lys seems to have -been carefully fortified down to Courtrai, and one almost gets the -impression that the Germans are seriously thinking of the possibility -of a retreat on this river, while a second and still better fortified -line has been prepared twenty kilometres (about thirteen miles) behind -on the Schelde. - -At the base of the old fortifications of the town, where the famous -Bataille des Eperons d'Or was fought, the invaders have arranged a sort -of artillery depôt. The special carriages carry the fire-pieces from -Essen to this spot, where they are put together, and then sent to their -destination. - -There are the enormous siege guns, as massive as elephants, and -as complicated as a cathedral organ; the quick-firing guns, light -and agile; the short and squat mortars; and on one side a sort of -cemetery of old artillery pieces; guns without carriages, smashed -wheels, distorted and broken remains of old arms blackened and made -unrecognisable by the explosions of hostile projectiles. - -The number of soldiers here seemed enormous. Day after day trains -loaded with new troops kept coming. These men are only in part sent to -the front, the other part leaving for an unknown destination. I had -the impression that something was being prepared, probably a desperate -attack on the north-west in the direction of Ypres and Dixmude. - -Courtrai is quite close to the trenches; often regiments which have -been for a week or ten days in the firing line come back, and are -replaced by fresh troops. - -Every now and again a shell bursts in the town and causes some damage. -It is almost impossible to get anything to eat anywhere, and the -population is strictly rationed. To make sure that no light will give -away the position of the town at night, gas and electric light have -been cut off. At nine o'clock everybody must be indoors. - -I don't know if civilians have all left the town by order of the -Governor, but it is certain that it seems to be only inhabited by -soldiers. Some houses with doors wide open are completely abandoned, -whilst others, the best ones, are inhabited by officers. A number have -been burned. - -In no hotels was there a room to be had, and I spent the night on a -billiard-table covered with a mattress. Every now and again the guns -awakened me with their thunder-like rumble, which at night sounded -nearer and stranger. I could see the clouds in the distance reddened by -the flames of the explosions. - -In the morning I went down to the cemetery of the town, which, being at -the extreme west, gave me opportunity to glance towards the forbidden -ground, the real firing line. In the distance, with the help of a good -pair of field-glasses, lent me by an officer, I could see something -moving slowly with smoke above it. Behind the leafless trees of the -road more smoke announced the German artillery position. - -I told what I had seen to an officer, who happened to be a very nice -fellow, and I asked him: "Is a modern battlefield always so slow?" - -"Yes, almost always." - -"And this goes on for weeks?" I said. - -"For months, sir!" - -"And don't you think it likely that you or the others will try a -decided move one of these days?" - -"We hope so," answered the officer; "we have not begun to fight yet." - - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BRUNSWICK STREET, -STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. - - - - -+-------------------------------------------------+ -|Transcriber's note: | -| | -|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | -| | -+-------------------------------------------------+ - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT I SAW IN BERLIN AND OTHER -EUROPEAN CAPITALS DURING WARTIME*** - - -******* This file should be named 64166-0.txt or 64166-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/4/1/6/64166 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: What I Saw in Berlin and Other European capitals During Wartime</p> -<p>Author: Piermarini</p> -<p>Release Date: December 29, 2020 [eBook #64166]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT I SAW IN BERLIN AND OTHER EUROPEAN CAPITALS DURING WARTIME***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4 class="pgx" title="">E-text prepared by Martin Pettit<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (https://www.pgdp.net)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (https://archive.org)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/whatisawinberlin00pieruoft - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="pgx" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/front.jpg" alt="front" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> - -<h1>WHAT I SAW IN BERLIN </h1> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="title page" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">WHAT I SAW IN<br />BERLIN AND OTHER<br />EUROPEAN CAPITALS<br />DURING WARTIME</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">BY</p> - -<p class="bold2">"PIERMARINI"</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">LONDON<br />EVELEIGH NASH<br />1915</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> - -<h2>NOTE</h2> - -<p>Several chapters of this book are reprinted from the <i>Evening News</i> -(London), to the Proprietors and Editor of which paper the author owes -his grateful thanks for the permission to include them here. </p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table summary="CONTENTS"> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">INTRODUCTORY</td> - <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER I</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">MY FIRST WAR-TIME JOURNEY TO BERLIN</td> - <td><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER II</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">POTSDAM AND HAMBURG</td> - <td><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER III</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">CONSTANTINOPLE</td> - <td><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER IV</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">BULGARIA AND GREECE</td> - <td><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER V</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">MY SECOND WAR-TIME VISIT TO BERLIN</td> - <td><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER VI</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">VIENNA</td> - <td><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER VII</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">SWITZERLAND</td> - <td><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER VIII</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">ITALY</td> - <td><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER IX</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">FRANCE</td> - <td><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER X</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">HOLLAND</td> - <td><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XI</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">ANTWERP—THE DEAD CITIES OF BRABANT</td> - <td><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">CHAPTER XII</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">BRUSSELS, TOURNAI, AND THE GERMAN FRONT</td> - <td><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">WHAT I SAW IN BERLIN</p> - -<p class="bold">AND OTHER EUROPEAN CAPITALS</p> - -<h2>INTRODUCTORY</h2> - -<p>The golden days of the war correspondents have long since passed away; -the unlimited freedom allowed to newspaper correspondents during the -1870 war, the fact that Germany could know every move, every change -of front, even the exact figures of the different contingents of -troops, by the simple method of getting the Paris papers, and the many -instances during both the Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese Wars, in -which supposed war correspondents turned out to be dangerous spies, -have made the commanders of the fighting armies extremely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> careful; and -the war correspondent is kept so far from the firing-line that even if -he manages to get near to the front, he is allowed to see practically -nothing, and his report is based only on what he can get out of -soldiers back from the line of fire.</p> - -<p>Moreover, the enormously wide front of the modern battlefield makes it -absolutely impossible for the war correspondent to gain anything like -an exact idea of what is going on. His work is essentially a work of -analysis, analysis of the section in which he moves, but the synthesis -of the whole movement is bound to escape his observation.</p> - -<p>But though war is undoubtedly decided on the battlefield, it is no less -certainly reflected in the life of the capitals of the belligerent -nations. As long as hope, money, food, fresh supplies of men and -ammunition are forthcoming, a nation retains a normal appearance; but a -reverse on the battlefield is almost immediately transmitted throughout -the country. Especially in the large towns, where bad news always -manages to come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> through quickly, one can detect, from a thousand and -one signs, to what degree the population has been affected.</p> - -<p>We have only to remember how London and Paris looked in September last, -and to compare the practically "Business as usual" life of to-day, to -appreciate what a sensitive thermometer is the population of a great -city.</p> - -<p>The task I have essayed during the last five months has been to look -at these thermometers with the eye of a doctor—sometimes anxious, -sometimes unsympathetic, but always, I trust, impartial. The great -capitals of Europe have been the aim of my journeys.</p> - -<p>Upon my desk lies a cheap war-map cut from a daily paper. It is -scribbled all over with blue pencil marks—marks which represent my -wanderings across Europe since the beginning of the war. The atlas I -have just consulted tells me I have travelled fifteen thousand miles; -fifteen thousand miles of travel, during which time I met continuously -new people, people of different <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>temperaments, different nationalities, -different religions; but all interested in one subject, and talking -about one subject only—the war.</p> - -<p>I have visited eight large capitals of European States, lived their -lives, felt the intense wave of their sympathies, hates, sorrows, and -joys, strong, of course, in a terrible crisis like the present.</p> - -<p>From London to Paris, from Berlin to Amsterdam, from Vienna to -Brussels, from Rome to Athens and Constantinople, all the European -capitals show more or less the effects of the war. Curiously enough, -Rome, Amsterdam, and Athens—capitals of States as yet neutral—are -among the cities most altered, while least changes are to be seen in -the town which has given to the war almost the whole of her adult -sons—Berlin.</p> - -<p>When one wishes to obtain, during a short visit, as true and as many -impressions as possible of a town, the best thing to do is to sit in -a café where the literary-journalistic element resorts. In the large -room of the Café Royal in London, or under the deer-heads<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> of the Bauer -in Berlin, on the horrid yellow velvet sofas of Aragno in Rome, or on -the verandah of the Ianni in Constantinople, the people talk freely. -In such places the opinions of the different classes are reduced to a -common denomination—public opinion; tongues wag more freely, loosened -by the favourite drink, be it whisky and soda, beer, coffee, or sherbet.</p> - -<p>London is decidedly optimistic; there is certainly a little -apprehension on the score of Zeppelins, and the probability of a -lengthy war; but every Briton <i>knows</i> that England will ultimately come -out on top.</p> - -<p>Amsterdam is, at the present moment, the town of half words and of -compromises of all kinds. "We want to please England, our friends, but -we wish to avoid trouble with Germany ..." is a sentence one often -hears there.</p> - -<p>Paris has given all that she had—her children, her money, and her -commerce. She is waiting and hoping, for the memories of 1870 are still -fresh. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> - -<p>But Berlin—Berlin is full of astonishment. She was certain that the -war would be over and Paris taken in less than a month. She does not -yet admit that the campaign is going badly, but she is very much -surprised that her carefully prepared military machine has not worked -perfectly.</p> - -<p>Rome watches the war with almost morbid interest, as a woman of -Madrid watches a bull-fight. She is aching to do something; she wants -to follow the call of her strong sympathies, of her still stronger -hates, and to break off the neutrality her diplomats have imposed upon -her. Everywhere a word of hope is repeated, full of promise and of -menace—"To Trieste, soon!"</p> - -<p>Athens is waking to something of her old spirit now heroic times have -come again. She is confident in her clever diplomats, and already -regards Southern Albania as an essential part of Greece.</p> - -<p>Vienna has long since begun to feel the grip of famine, defeat, and, -what is worse, political dissolution. With her shops closed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> her -darkness, her beggars with the real accent of hunger in their tones, -the town is even more sad than Brussels, that capital which is no -longer a capital, that beautiful city which had to shelter in her best -palaces all the bureaucrats and military cohorts of the invaders, but -which still has ideals and a beloved king, and looks full of hope at -her sons and her friends fighting in the near west. Brussels waits the -day of resurrection.</p> - -<p>As for Constantinople, the town is displaying truly Oriental fatalism. -"The Germans took the trouble to give us money, to organise our army, -to augment our navy, and we hope that everything goes well. If not—the -sky will be blue all the same, the figs will ripen at the right season -as they did before, the world will not have changed."</p> - -<p>Thus might speak the Turk if he troubled himself to speak at all: but -he is silent. All the talking there is done by the Germans.</p> - -<p>A curiosity of the war is the way the street<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> crowds have altered in -composition in the different capitals.</p> - -<p>In London there are the refugees, dressed in clothes of all shapes, -colours, and dimensions, the special constables, and the crowds of -recruits. In Paris—patriotic Paris—one meets many crippled people, -for almost every other man not wearing a uniform has a physical -deformity. In the Paris underground, at the Metropolitan Railway -Station, a new figure, a sympathetic and admirable figure, has -appeared: the woman who works while her husband is at the front. Often -she has babies clinging to her skirt as she pierces your railway ticket.</p> - -<p>Brussels is overrun by German uniforms; Vienna by refugees from -Galicia; Rome by continuous pro-war demonstrations; Constantinople by -any amount of Germans, and also by a curious class of Turco-German -official who is, for the moment, the real master of the situation.</p> - -<p>My journeys will be found in this book in their chronological order, -but before I start<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> the record of my war-time travels I should like to -set down a conversation I had at Craig-Avon, near Belfast, in April, -1914.</p> - -<p>One of the officers of the Ulster Army had just taken me round the camp -and shown me everything: the new uniforms, the guns, the commissariat -and sanitary arrangements, the men at drill and at play.</p> - -<p>We were sitting in the lofty winter-garden of Craig-Avon, and beside -our charming host—Captain Craig—Sir Edward Carson, the Archbishop of -Belfast, and a few officers of H.M.S. <i>Pathfinder</i>, which was anchored -off Carrickfergus, were present.</p> - -<p>We talked about the situation, and about the organisation of the new -troops, and I remember asking Sir Edward Carson the question, "Do you -think all this preparation indispensable? Do you think there will ever -be any actual fighting?"</p> - -<p>"There will be, if we cannot obtain what we want without fighting," -came the answer. "In any case, we are training here some jolly good -troops, and it is always better for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> nation to have trained than -untrained men. England will know where to find a few thousand good -soldiers in case of need," he concluded smiling.</p> - -<p>Then a young officer, wearing the blue naval uniform, said in a light -voice, probably for the sake of saying something, "And she will -probably need them sooner than any of us think."</p> - -<p>The old tradition that the gift of prophecy brings misfortune to the -prophet, as it did to the unfortunate Cassandra, has been fulfilled. -The young officer went down with his ship, the <i>Pathfinder</i>, without -the consolation even of having fought for his country.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER I</span> <span class="smaller">MY FIRST WAR-TIME JOURNEY TO BERLIN</span></h2> - -<p>Since the war broke out I have visited Berlin twice; the first time at -the beginning of October, the second at the end of December, 1914. It -was my intention to compare in these pages the different impressions I -received in the German capital during my two visits, the second made -less than three months after the first; but now I see that this would -almost completely destroy the sensation of sincerity and freshness, -realised only when one is able to write immediately after having -visited a country.</p> - -<p>My readers will easily see how the last three months have changed the -German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> capital, by reading after this chapter the one entitled "My -Second War-time Journey to Berlin."</p> - -<p>The following journal has been written partly on board the small -steamer which brought me from Amsterdam back to England, and partly -immediately after my return to Great Britain.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p class="right"><i>October 10th.</i></p> - -<p>"Your nationality?"</p> - -<p>"Italian."</p> - -<p>"Where do you come from?"</p> - -<p>"Berlin."</p> - -<p>The fatherly-looking Custom House officer who was examining our -passports dropped his glasses and looked at me in astonishment. "And -what were you doing in Berlin?" he asked, after a moment's pause.</p> - -<p>"Just a pleasure trip," was the answer, which perhaps did not satisfy -him completely.</p> - -<p>He looked again at the passport, which was in perfect order, at the -half-a-dozen seals, signatures, and Consulate stencils, Italian,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> -Dutch, and German, which have occupied, during the last two weeks -almost all the room left for the purpose on the dirty-looking, official -piece of paper, and concluded philosophically, giving it back to me: -"After all, some folk have got curious hobbies."</p> - -<p>Well, I really don't know if to go to Berlin from England in war time -just to know what's going on is a curious hobby or not. But, when -two weeks ago I read in some London newspaper wonderful stories of -starvation and symptoms of panic in the German capital, and in some -others that things in Berlin were going on just as usual, I thought the -only way to know the truth about it was to go there myself.</p> - -<p>I was warned that I should get into trouble, be arrested, kept -prisoner, treated as a spy, etc., and the few persons who knew of my -journey thought it was a very foolish thing to do. As a matter of fact, -the trip was carried out without much difficulty.</p> - -<p>Here is a summary of it: three days from London to Berlin (arrested -once at Goch, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> German frontier town, and once at Hanover); three -days in Berlin (had to report to the police every morning and was -arrested twice); three days from Berlin to Amsterdam, the only exciting -diversion being a short arrest at Stendal. I would not exactly -recommend an elderly lady to leave her easy chair in her Kensington -sitting-room to start off on such a journey. But I enjoyed every moment -of the trip.</p> - -<p>"What is then the present condition of Berlin? Did you find out the -truth about what's going on there?" Everybody keeps asking me these -questions.</p> - -<p>The answer cannot be given in a few words. Berlin, on the surface, is -as usual; the life did not appear to me at first sight much different -from what I saw during my last visit four years ago. London has changed -her habits more on account of the war than Berlin.</p> - -<p>The theatres in the German capital are mostly open, the crowds in the -street do not look much different from the peace-time crowds, the -food-stuff prices are very little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> higher than usual. The women driving -taxi-cabs, the starving queue outside the butchers' shops in the -morning, and the potatoes sold at high price—these exist only in the -dreams of newspaper correspondents.</p> - -<p>Everything seems pretty normal. The enthusiasm for the Emperor, for the -Army, for the Fatherland is as strong as ever. The confidence of the -people, fed on false news, on fantastic reports, on gigantic illusions, -is unbounded. These people have a keen relish and delight in the fact, -as they admit at once, that the whole world is against them; they -seem to be proud of their isolation and despise infinitely their only -allies, the Austrians.</p> - -<p>One hears in the street people talking like this: "We are bound to win; -it is fatal and it is ridiculous to see a few decrepit nations trying -to stop God's Will," or "We are the only race of dictators; we will -have the whole world at our feet and impose our laws on every nation"; -and very often this more simple and utilitarian, "When I will be able<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> -to get a concession for a maize plantation in Algeria ..." or "When, -next year, we shall start ostrich farming in South Africa," ... etc.</p> - -<p>Most of the people I met in Berlin willingly admitted that the methods -of war of their troops in Belgium and France were very wrong, but they -invariably concluded: "If this is the only way to give Germany her -definite position of queen of the world, you perfectly understand that -the life of a few thousand men, the pillage of a few cities, the tears -of a few women, cannot be an obstacle worth considering."</p> - -<p>They don't admit for a moment that success will perhaps not crown and, -to a certain extent, justify their deeds; they don't consider the -possibility of disaster. If they have the worst of the struggle it will -certainly not be for lack of self-confidence.</p> - -<p>Only the military circles seem to realise fully how terribly strong is -the enemy Germany is fighting, and how very small are her chances in -the long run. But they keep their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> sentiments and feelings as secret as -possible, and, helped by their wonderfully organised Press, they manage -to keep alive the Berlin public's illusions.</p> - -<p>During my short stay in Berlin, thanks to a few acquaintances in the -military world and to a fair knowledge of the German language, I -managed to mix with different classes of people, from the man in the -street to the officers of the cavalry regiment still in Berlin for -the drill of the 1914-15 recruits; from a very well-known writer on -military science to the working people unemployed on account of the war -crisis.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>At about nine o'clock on the morning after my arrival I woke up still -tired after a late night in the gayest circles of Berlin. I had been -to one of the numerous cabarets, which are the equivalent in Berlin of -the London night club. The gay life of the German capital was being -carried on just as in peace time. Students, officers, viveurs, and -the indispensable feminine element, among which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> the French was, as -usual, much in evidence (Dumas used to say, "Le demi-monde n'a pas de -patrie!"), were crowding into the large, brightly-lighted rococo room, -trying hard to dance one-steps and maxixes with the latest Paris or -London swing.</p> - -<p>I was looking at my Baedeker map, trying to refresh my memory of Berlin -topography, when the waiter shouted at the door, "Ein Herr wünscht -Sie zu sprechen!" I did not know who the early visitor could be, so -I finished dressing as quickly as possible, and went out into the -corridor.</p> - -<p>A man was standing there waiting for me; he stepped in without saying -a word, and, when in the room, asked me where I came from and what my -business was in Berlin. I showed him my passport. He said he would see -to that afterwards; meanwhile he had to examine my luggage.</p> - -<p>The man, I knew later on, was a police-inspector; he looked at all I -had with me, and copied into a pocket-book my address and the address -of my tailor, which he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>discovered on a small piece of white silk -inside the breast pocket of one of my jackets. He then took possession -of a few very innocent papers and letters, and looked underneath the -lining of my hat, opened the alarm clock to see if something was -concealed in the case, and was very much puzzled by a black box, which -he opened most carefully, with the result that he found a manicure set.</p> - -<p>Then he asked me to follow him to the police station. A taxi was -waiting, and we reached the sombre building after a long drive. There I -had to undergo a second cross-examination. I was asked to give all the -references I could in Berlin, and after three hours' detention, I was -finally released, having promised to report myself every morning to the -police-station, and not to leave the Kaiserhof Hotel without letting -them know about it.</p> - -<p>I must say that the Police Commissair behaved quite decently, and -apologised for the trouble he was forced to give me. He even offered me -a bad cigar and a worse cup<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> of coffee, which I couldn't refuse, and -for which I was certainly more annoyed with him than for the arrest -itself.</p> - -<p>I stepped out of the decrepit building and found myself in a narrow, -tortuous street of old Berlin, without the slightest idea of the -direction I had to go to reach the modern part of the city.</p> - -<p>After some wandering in narrow streets and irregular squares, which -reminded me of some old Flemish town much more than of modern Berlin, I -was lucky enough to find a taxi to drive to the post office. I began to -ring up some of my old friends in Berlin. In four cases I was unlucky; -three were at the front; one had gone to America last year, and though -called to arms could not, or did not, trouble to come back. My fifth -call was for a lieutenant friend in a cavalry regiment. I had not seen -him for years. His sister answered the call, and when I asked for Otto -she said, "Why, don't you know he is in hospital? He has been wounded -in Belgium, and has been back over five weeks now." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> - -<p>She offered to take me to see him in an hour's time, and so it was that -I managed to get into a German military hospital. I lunched in a large -restaurant, in which the places of the waiters called to the colours -had been taken by Kellnerinnen. To judge from the food I had the cook's -place must have been taken by a shoemaker.</p> - -<p>I was rather surprised to find that the hospital was a luxurious -private house. I learned afterwards that the proprietor, a wealthy -officer, had equipped it as an emergency nursing home for officers, -and offered it to the Government. There was no difficulty in being -admitted, as my friend was quite out of danger, his wounds being a -light one in the face and a serious one in the knee-cap. The little -white camp beds were arranged in two lines on both sides of a large -sitting-room. The nurses were ladies of the best Berlin society, and -seemed to add to the skill of a perfect nurse the tactful ways of a -lady of quality.</p> - -<p>After the natural surprise of my friend at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> our meeting in such -extraordinary circumstances, he told me how he had been wounded at the -very beginning of the campaign, practically without being able to do -any fighting. He said that the Germans only realised that they would -have to fight in Belgium when they were already on Belgian soil. The -cavalry, marching in front without any artillery support, received -the most serious shock. The German Government was so sure that the -intimidation of Belgium would be successful that the siege guns had -been sent in the direction of the French frontier.</p> - -<p>I asked him what he thought of the position of his country at the -present moment. He smiled sadly and said:</p> - -<p>"Here, in the hospital, we only know what the newspapers say; and, -of course, they are very optimistic. We officers know perfectly what -our forces and the forces of our enemies are. It is certain that we -are going to struggle to the very last. You know how I, personally, -love France; but, of course, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> will go to fight again as soon as I am -better—if I am ever in condition to fight."</p> - -<p>He said this sadly, showing me his leg, which perhaps will be crippled -for ever. And he concluded in French, the language we used to speak -at a time we both thought an officer was only a kind of sportsman who -wore a uniform. "Enfin même si c'est un suicide il faut l'faire et -on va l'faire!" He gave me some introductions to officers still in -Berlin, and we parted; our last word was au revoir.... Where and when -we shall meet again, what our country will be then, the blood of how -many thousand men will be wasted before that day is in the hands of a -mysterious future.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>I devoted the rest of my afternoon to a long walk through the town.</p> - -<p>Processions of unemployed like we used to see during the great coal -strike in some cities in the North of England were coming from the east -part of the town. Women and children were in very large numbers, but -there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> was also any number of men, old, crippled, or somehow unfit for -military service. Unemployment is really the most striking symptom of -the war in Berlin.</p> - -<p>Many manufacturers have had to stop their works owing to the lack of -raw material. The wool, silk, leather, and cotton industries are almost -completely paralysed. Other works have been stopped because Germany -cannot get any fuel. All the reserves of coal have been taken up by the -Government for naval and military purposes. Also the toy, furnishing, -and fancy trades have had to be completely stopped, as there are no -customers for such goods.</p> - -<p>Under the patronage of Kronprinzessin Cecilie, who, by the way, is -very popular during this war, a movement has been started to assist -the unemployed. But the crowd of out-of-works seems to increase daily, -and the twenty thousand free dinners given away every afternoon by the -relief committee don't seem enough for the innocent victims of the war.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> - -<p>Down the endless Friedrichstrasse I saw a company of a few hundred boys -still in civilian clothes, marching stiffly, and trying to keep the -compass-like Prussian step. Officers and sergeants in uniform were with -them. Some of the recruits did not look more than fifteen or sixteen. -Most of them, with large gold or tortoiseshell spectacles, represented -the classical type of the German Gymnasium and Lyceum.</p> - -<p>The crowd cheered the boys, and they marched away as stiff as possible, -without even turning their eyes to the people in the street. An old man -explained to me that they were boys a few months short of seventeen, -who want to be perfectly ready when, in February, they will be accepted -in the army as volunteers. There are apparently over fifty thousand -boys of this class, who intend to volunteer as soon as the military -authorities will allow them to do so.</p> - -<p>To get out of the Sunday crowd I walked along the Spree. Here is one of -the largest barracks in Berlin. I wonder how many men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> of the Kaiser -Alexander Garde Grenadiers will come back to their beautiful home. It -seems to have been one of the regiments most severely cut up in France -lately.</p> - -<p>On a large poster at the corner of Eberts-Brücke, amongst many -<i>affiches</i> of music-halls, boot polish, and tooth paste, I read the -announcement of a special evening service and sermon at the cathedral -at five o'clock.</p> - -<p>I walked down to the Lustgarten, just in time for the service.</p> - -<p>The large church was full of people. The crowd of over two thousand -perhaps was chiefly composed of women and old men. I noticed that an -extraordinary number were in mourning.</p> - -<p>The dark crowd contrasted curiously with the aggressive bright gold of -the dome lighted by a number of electric lamps.</p> - -<p>The minister began his sermon. As I was right at the back of the church -I missed at first most of his words, but, little by little, I began to -understand better.</p> - -<p>"We don't know how many of our sons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> have lost their lives up to now," -he said, "but be sure that they have found the way which leads straight -to eternal happiness. He who dies in war for his country and for the -Kaiser is certain of the sight of God. The Lord has put a sword in the -hands of our Kaiser. He knows where and how to strike in this war. -Glory on our sons who have died; they died like heroes, all of them, -and every mother, every sister, every wife, must be proud to have lost -the man they love in such a noble way. Be sure that our soldiers have -never done anything less than noble. They are fighting in a treacherous -country, but they are fighting for a right, holy cause, and they are -bound to win."</p> - -<p>I felt like shouting at him: "Malines, Rheims, Louvaine, Termonde! -What do you say of these? Is that the way the favourites of God should -fight! Is that the way to fight for civilisation?"</p> - -<p>I could not stand it any more, and walked out. In front of me was the -Schloss-Brücke, with huge groups illustrating the education,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> life, and -glorification of the warrior. This is one of the many proofs of how -Germany has been preparing her children for war for generations and -generations. I thought of the sentence, "The war into which we have -been driven," I had just heard from the priest's lips, and I wondered -if that man of God, in the House of God, was lying, knowing that he -did so, or if he, too, was simply consumed utterly by the mad wave of -military exaltation which seemed to have covered the whole of Germany.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>Sitting round a large corner table at the Café Fürstenhof with huge -glasses of beer in front of us and a good after-dinner cigar, the -reticence of the two officers who were in my company melted away -slowly. Even the latest German atrocities will not make me deny the -wonderful convivial effect of a large glass of blonde cervogie.</p> - -<p>"Spies!" said one of the two young fellows, who looked like bursting -out of his tight green-grey tunic every time he laughed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> "Why should -we worry about spies? All the men and women, especially women, who were -supposed to be spying for Russia in Germany and Austria were playing a -double game.</p> - -<p>"Russia was persuaded they were spying for her, and they were spying -for us instead. A few useless and fantastic reports sent to St. -Petersburg were good enough to put them in the confidence of generals -and archdukes, and so they could get for us very important secrets. -France never had a proper secret service worth talking about, and the -few attempts of England in this direction were so clumsily done that -it was really pathetic to see how the poor chaps got into trouble for -sending home information and plans they could easily have copied from -railway maps and tourist books.</p> - -<p>"We are the only nation on earth who know how to organise a secret -service!"</p> - -<p>"You seem most proud of your spies," I remarked.</p> - -<p>"Spies is a very ridiculous word; Napoleon used to have spies; we have -informants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> They mix with all classes of society; they manage to get -everywhere, from the Royal Palace to the small country shop, from the -barracks canteen to the Premier's house.</p> - -<p>"Be certain that nine-tenths of those who have been arrested as our -emissaries in France, England, and Russia, have nothing to do with it, -and that most of the real ones are still doing their job, and doing it -jolly well too.</p> - -<p>"We know everything that happens in England," he continued, after -swallowing half his glass of beer. "We know the exact number and -destination of the troops sent from Britain to the Continent; we know -of everyone who goes in or out of England, and also of his business and -of his intentions."</p> - -<p>"Oh, do you?" I could not help exclaiming, and I nearly burst out -laughing.</p> - -<p>"Yes, we do," he continued with unshakable assurance. "For instance, we -know that Lord Kitchener is struggling to raise his Army; that London -is in darkness for fear of the Zeppelins; that the King and the Royal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> -Family have left Buckingham Palace for a small private house, afraid of -bomb-dropping.</p> - -<p>"It is really very childish of the British authorities to think that we -shall send a lonely airship to drop a few bombs on London. They would -not do much harm, and they would produce a panic, with the result that -Kitchener would, perhaps, get on better with his recruiting. We know -perfectly the Englishmen and their quiet nature. They are still asleep -and it would be very foolish of us to wake them up."</p> - -<p>The night was wonderfully fine; the Tiergarten, which we reached in a -few minutes, was full of light, and of couples of lovers.</p> - -<p>We walked up the Sieges Allee, spoiled by a childish decorative scheme -of the Kaiser himself, with a multitude of marble benches and statues, -and we reached the Königs Platz. "Those are the men we need now. They -were the right men in the right place," exclaimed one of my companions, -pointing to the statues of Bismarck and Moltke at the two ends of the -square. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yes, but thank the Lord you don't have them," was my mental answer.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>A military band wakes me up with the eternal sound of "Deutschland, -Deutschland über alles," and does not leave me for a second the -illusion of being in a friendly town.</p> - -<p>The clumsy furniture of my large bedroom at the Kaiserhof Hotel, and -the sight of the intensely German-looking front of the house which -bounds my horizon at the other side of the Wilhelmplatz, make me -realise that I am in Berlin, right in the heart of the great monster -who is lacerating Europe with his steel talons from east to west.</p> - -<p>I am seized by a sort of fever. I want to see straight away how the war -has changed these Germans, among whom I have many friends, in peace -time excellent organisers of commercial enterprises as merchants, as -scientists, even as soldiers, but soldiers whose chivalry, as I thought -then, seemed to transcend the natural grimness of the soldier. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> - -<p>I dress as quickly as possible. Leaving the hotel, I walk right along -the Wilhelmstrasse, full of busy people. I am now in Unter den Linden.</p> - -<p>Flags are hanging from every balcony; others wave at the top of the -high masts which crown the gigantic commercial buildings; many shops -display draperies with the national colours and the clawed black eagle -is everywhere—on the cap of the messenger boy and at the breast of -the lady, on the banner which dominates the corner turret of the Bauer -Café, and on the silk handkerchiefs in the shop windows.</p> - -<p>The Austrian colours are completely ignored. I have not seen a single -Austrian flag during the whole of my stay in Berlin, and it is really -curious the Olympic indifference the Prussians affect towards their -ally—Germany's only friend.</p> - -<p>A German officer whom I met later on declared to me candidly that he -considered that the Austrians as allies were a drawback rather than a -help. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> - -<p>Companies of soldiers come out from Luisenstrasse following the drums; -other troops march along the Charlottenburg Chaussée through the -Brandenburger Tor, on which, gilded by rays of the sun, is the Quadriga -of Victory, by G. Schadov. I recollect that exactly a hundred years -ago, in 1814, the heavy brass group was taken back to Berlin from Paris -after seven years at the top of the arch of the Champ Elysées. How soon -before its next trip to Paris?</p> - -<p>Near one of the side colonnades a gentleman standing on a chair shouts -the latest war news through a megaphone to a crowd of listeners. -Everybody is anxious for news of Antwerp, because I understood it was -clearly realised when that city capitulated or was taken by the Germans -the besieging army would be released. Then on to Paris!</p> - -<p>At the Pariser Platz I see wounded officers being taken into the large -private houses which are used as Red Cross hospitals, and a large crowd -receives them with sympathetic cheers. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> - -<p>One of the most remarkable things in Berlin is the number of private -houses, hotels, and museums turned into hospitals; and the conclusion -I came to is that the British estimates of the number of German -casualties are not at all exaggerated. Berlin is a city of wounded -and distressed, gay as it is on the surface; only the authorities are -careful to keep this fact as dark as possible. No official list of dead -and wounded is issued, and the families are generally told by means of -printed letters that Hans or Fritz will not come back.</p> - -<p>Some papers started at the beginning of the war to give lists of dead -officers and men, which they drew up by means of private inquiry. Now -this has been stopped, and only now and again do the papers talk of the -glorious death of Captain or Lieutenant So-and-so.</p> - -<p>The censorship in Berlin is much more strict than in London. Some -newspapers have disappeared; some have reduced their dimensions; -others, that tried to be coherent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> with their past political ideas, -have been boycotted even by the section of the public which used -formerly to support them.</p> - -<p>For instance, to read <i>Vorwaerts</i> in public in Berlin is an action -which requires a certain amount of heroism. The newspaper which in the -last two months has been suppressed three times by the Censor, and -three times allowed to appear again on the promise of good behaviour, -is almost the only one which shows any independence of the military -Press office, and dares to tell news other than optimistic to the -Berlin public.</p> - -<p>Wishing to read something fairly truthful about the war, I was scanning -this newspaper while riding in a tramcar on my way to the War Fund -garden party, which was, at the moment, the great attraction of all -Berlin.</p> - -<p>An elderly gentleman, sitting opposite me, after looking suspiciously -for a long while at the paper and at myself, addressed me with this -extraordinary remark: "To be a Socialist at the present moment is to be -an enemy of the Fatherland. You should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> ashamed to read a paper like -that when you should be fighting for the country."</p> - -<p>I answered that I read what I liked best and that he need not worry—I -would gladly fight for my country as soon as she was at war. When -the old man heard I was an Italian he commenced, tactless as only a -German can be when he is of the tactless sort, a long talk about the -treacherous politics of Italy, the punishment Germany is going to give -her, and other similar nonsense.</p> - -<p>I got out of the car to avoid a useless dispute, and entered the large -courtyard of a sumptuous private residence in which the garden party -was being held.</p> - -<p>All that Berlin has left in the way of Society was there, <i>chic</i> little -ladies dressed in the French style, drinking Russian tea, lounging -about or sitting at small tables in true English fashion. Without a -doubt, this is the ideal setting for a garden party in favour of the -German War Fund!</p> - -<p>A smart young girl came towards me and put a small silk flag in my -buttonhole—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> German flag, of course; I had to give her a ten-marks -note for it, as other people at my side had just done.</p> - -<p>Of all the little sins I had to commit to carry out successfully my -Berlin trip, indispensable white lies, and misleading silences, the one -which I have the most on my conscience is certainly the contribution of -ten marks to the German War Fund!</p> - -<p>Through a wide arch we passed from the courtyard into a fairly large -garden, in which different tents had been erected for the sale of -flowers, small china pieces, and all the other useless, ugly little -things one is prepared to buy at a charity bazaar. The picture postcard -stall specially attracted my attention, as most of the cards referred -to the war. I got a large selection of masterpieces of bad taste, cheap -symbolism, and antediluvian humour.</p> - -<p>I carefully kept far from the buvette in which the Princess of Thurn -and Taxis was selling by auction glasses of Moselle wine at fantastic -prices. One of the officers in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> company the previous night bumped -into me while trying to escape from a persistent flower girl.</p> - -<p>He was the man so well informed about London life in war time, and as -he, too, seemed to consider the garden party a very dangerous social -function (probably from different motives from my own) we left of -common accord without being caught again.</p> - -<p>He gave me some news about the war, and said Antwerp was about to -capitulate.</p> - -<p>"We shall get into the town in one or two days," he said. "It is -the intention of the Kaiser to occupy the whole of Belgium and to -advance on the north coast of France, so as to cut the usual lines of -communication with England." He said also that the official reports -from the eastern theatres of operation were very satisfactory (for -Germany), and concluded: "The Russians don't trouble very much about -us; their main objects are the southern Austrian provinces and, if -possible, Turkey."</p> - -<p>We sat down in an old-fashioned café,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> celebrated in all Berlin for its -excellent "Weiss-bier," the old all-Prussian drink stuff which is going -quite out of fashion and is now obtainable in very few restaurants. -Huge piles of newspapers and reviews were laid on a large table in -the centre of the room, as in every café in Berlin. The foreign -publications, generally very largely represented, were reduced to a few -soiled issues two months old. People sitting round the centre table -were enjoying and laughing loudly at the jokes of the humorous German -and Austrian papers.</p> - -<p>The dominant note in the caricature is the monotonous repetition of -a few coarse, common figures—the drunken Russian loaded with stolen -loot, the tall, thin, red-haired English soldier, who cares only for -the pay he gets; the sloppily-dressed Frenchman, who talks much and -does nothing. Kitchener, Poincaré, and Joffre seem pet subjects, and -they appear dressed in all possible clothes over and over again in -monotonous succession. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> - -<p>One of <i>Ulk</i>'s last issues was almost entirely devoted to Kitchener and -to his recruiting scheme.</p> - -<p>Some of the drawings are really clever and bear the signature of -well-known artists, but the rest of these papers do not seem humorous -even to the Germans themselves.</p> - -<p>"They really don't know what to say," explained my companion. "All the -possible subjects of humour about our enemies have been exhausted long -ago, and even our best comic artists are forced to repeat themselves."</p> - -<p>"Do you believe in this 'dum-dum' story?" I asked, showing him a -drawing representing a French and an English soldier preparing the -murderous bullets, and, at the back of them, Death looking very pleased -at this sight.</p> - -<p>"Well, 'dum-dum' stories take wonderfully well with the public. People -simply adore to hear that the enemy are using illicit methods of -warfare. In mediæval times they used to say that the enemy had the help -of the evil power, or a magic sword, or <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>something else of the kind. In -modern times 'dum-dums' are a wonderful survival of the old tales. Why -not give dum-dum stories to the public if they like them?"</p> - -<p>"But do you think 'dum-dums' have really been used?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"No, they are cruel and of no use at all. The 'dum-dum' bullets to be -effective must be of fairly large size, and we cannot use anything of -the kind with our modern rifles. In military circles we don't attach -any importance to these rumours. In all the wars of the last fifty -years the 'dum-dum' legend had a resurrection like the Arab phoenix."</p> - -<p>"But I have seen photos of 'dum-dum' bullets," I insisted.</p> - -<p>"So have I, but who can tell that the bullets have only been made -'dum-dum' after the cartridges have been served out? A soldier may -individually, without any officer telling him to do so, cut with -his pocket-knife across the part of the bullet which protrudes from -the brass part of the cartridge. The result is not that of a real<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> -'dum-dum,' of course, but it is quite a good imitation. In a case like -this the Government to which the individual soldier belongs cannot be -called responsible for the violation of the Hague Convention."</p> - -<p>We walked out, as he had to get back to the barracks. I had no -programme for the rest of the afternoon. I walked straight on and found -myself in the Linden.</p> - -<p>I noticed that the few shops of English firms in Berlin were closed, as -were also the agencies of British ship companies.</p> - -<p>The first night of a great military drama was announced for the -evening, and curious little carriages covered by a sort of large square -box with the sandwich man completely concealed inside, showed large -posters with scenes of the drama. One exhibited a wonderful allegoric -picture with a bulldog, a bear, and a cock transfixed by the large -sword with which they had been killed. Needless to say, on the top of -it was a large Prussian eagle.</p> - -<p>The crowd of shoppers and idlers was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> going mostly towards the -Schloss-Brücke, and having nothing better to do I followed the current -of the people.</p> - -<p>In the Lustgarten a large crowd was waiting with an expectant air, -gazing at the central balcony overhanging the main entrance of the -Schloss. Before I had time to ask the reason of the excitement, one of -the French windows was opened by valets, and a tall lady, accompanied -by three children, dressed in white, came out and bowed smilingly to -the crowd.</p> - -<p>An enormous cheer received the Kronprinzessin. After remaining on the -balcony for a few minutes, during which she repeatedly bowed and kissed -the fair head of her eldest son, she retired, loud cheers being again -raised.</p> - -<p>I asked the reason of the demonstration, shivering at the idea that a -big success had been obtained by the German and that this was the way -the Berlin population expressed loyalty to its rulers.</p> - -<p>"Why, she appears every afternoon!" I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> was told. "A crowd comes here -every day at four o'clock. It has been so since the beginning of the -war."</p> - -<p>"Even when the war news was not very good?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"The news has always been very good," said my informant in a -contemptuous tone, and away he walked, disgusted at my disrespectful -remark.</p> - -<p>The crowd had now melted away slowly, and the Lustgarten had resumed -its air of aristocratic calm. In front of me was the huge mass of the -Imperial Palace, with the large bronze groups given to the Hohenzollern -family fifty years ago by the grandfather of the present Tsar.</p> - -<p>The balustrade of the balcony on which the Kronprinzessin had just -appeared is "decorated," to use the complimentary word of my Baedeker, -with the statues of German emperors and empresses in mythological -attire. Wilhelm II. is dreaming, I am sure, of putting there in a -few years his own effigy, of which he seems so extremely fond. What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> -disguise he will choose I cannot imagine; possibly he will dress as -Janus, the god of peace, Kaiser Frederich having already taken the -armour and shield of Mars.</p> - -<p>As for his son, everybody will agree that Mercury would be a suitable -<i>rôle</i>. Mercury was considered in old Rome the protector of the thieves.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>The most astonishing thing I heard during my trip was that the price -of beer is going up steadily, and that maybe the classical types of -German beer—Pilsener and Münchener—will have to give place to other -drinks to make which oats are not required. Most of the oats supply is -imported, I learn, from South Russia and America, and the importation, -of course, is now completely stopped.</p> - -<p>I can easily fancy Berlin without the Linden, or the Sieges-Säule, the -most insolent monument I have ever seen—even without the Kaiser, but -not without plenty of beer. I am trying to think what the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> Berlin cafés -will look like at night without the national drink. Probably they will -get as dull as the teetotal London night clubs in war-time!</p> - -<p>I found myself walking down the Gendarmen Market, perhaps the only fine -square in Berlin.</p> - -<p>Here is the Schauspielhaus in which during one of my former visits -Moissi, an Italian who is one of Germany's best tragic actors, was -appearing in <i>Hamlet</i> and <i>Othello</i>. I remember an old German professor -telling me of his almost exclusive love for the Shakespearean theatre, -and comparing it with the old and modern German theatre to the total -disadvantage of his countrymen.</p> - -<p>I wonder if the Chauvinistic influence of the war has made him love -Hauptmann and detest Shakespeare!</p> - -<p>Here is also the old French church, spoiled by recent restoration. Till -the outbreak of the war there used to be here a daily French service -and a Sunday sermon. Now the church is closed, most of the priests -have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> gone back to France, and one of them is said to be fighting -against Germany. Only an old French lady and the sacristan are there in -a small house at the back of the church.</p> - -<p>I knock for some time at the door, and finally I am admitted to an -old-world sitting-room, furnished with quite a number of plasters, -bronzes, and prints of all the saints who have blossomed during the -past centuries on the fertile soil of France.</p> - -<p>It takes me quite a time to persuade the good old lady that I am not -German, and not there to find out anything, but I finally get all -her confidence when I offer to carry a letter for her son, one of -the French church priests now in France. She tells me that they had -inquisitions over inquisitions by the military authorities since the -beginning of the war.</p> - -<p>"They went to look even in the church; they respect nothing, the -brutes," she went on, forgetting her prudence, and, pointing to the -picture of the Rheims Cathedral cut<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> out of an illustrated paper, -"This, Monsieur, was no human work. Men can construct churches, of -course, and beautiful ones too, but the Cathedral was more than that; -it was divine, and they have destroyed it.</p> - -<p>"They have shelled God's house," she said, "just because Germans are, -and will always be, jealous of all that is beautiful and gentle and -refined. I should not talk like this. I am too old to hate anybody, but -I can't help it. I have been in Berlin ten years now, and I am afraid I -will never see France again. Perhaps it is better so. I could not stand -seeing the eagle where the tricolour was. But we must win; the world -will never have peace until Germany is beaten."</p> - -<p>I tried to persuade her that this was also my opinion, and I got her to -speak about the condition of the foreigners in Berlin. "I don't know -about the others," she said, "but the French are having an awful time -of it."</p> - -<p>"Have they been put into Concentration Camp?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"No; only the young fellows are detained,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> and they are, I believe, the -most fortunate. A lot of French women and children are starving, as the -fathers are refused work everywhere, and even the shopkeepers refuse to -sell stuff to them."</p> - -<p>I waited for her to write the letter to her son, and I left the little -bit of France in German territory with a sense of distress. The last -words of the old lady were, "Walk out quickly, if you please; and don't -stop outside the door. A polizist is generally there, and if you are -seen walking out of this place there will probably be trouble for you."</p> - -<p>No polizist saw me leaving the presbytery; I walked down Iäger Strasse -to the house of a well-known writer on military subjects, who holds -a high position at the Embassy of a neutral Power in Berlin, and who -was the only person who knew the reason of my visit. He was rather -surprised at the way I managed to get on, and when I gave him my -impressions he agreed on most points.</p> - -<p>"I believe," he said, "that the war will in a month's time or so assume -a sort of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>defensive character as far as the Germans are concerned. -They will occupy the whole of Belgium, and cover at the west a front -strengthened with temporary fortification works like those which are -being fully carried out at the back of the German fighting line. Then -the war will assume a more careful character; I daresay the Kaiser will -start economising the lives of his men, which he has freely spent up to -now. The attempt to take Paris by storm with a daring march forward, -<i>coute que coute</i>, which was not the plan of the German military -command, but the Kaiser's, has completely failed."</p> - -<p>"Germany realises that her soldiers are none too many, and wants to -make the best of them. That's why they will use any amount of temporary -fortification, and will abstain from the compact formations which were -quite all right forty years ago, but have proved complete failures on -this occasion.</p> - -<p>"When the Germans are on their fortified line they will wait for a -fresh supply of men and guns. The guns used in Belgium are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> mostly done -for, and have gone back to Essen to be repaired, and in many cases to -be melted down again.</p> - -<p>"As you have noticed, Germany seems to despise the Austrians' help. -That is very wrong; if nothing else, Austria has taken away from -Germany the shock of the largest part of the Russian Army, at least for -the present moment.</p> - -<p>"The war will only come to an end for one of the three following -reasons:—</p> - -<p>"(1) The Triple Entente obtains successes in both theatres of operation -and breaks the line of temporary fortification I just told you about; -then France and England would have the way open to Berlin, and if the -Russians were successful in the East, Germany would be forced to ask -for peace.</p> - -<p>"(2) The Germans hurry up and break the Franco-English resistance -before the new English Army and the Colonial forces (which seem to be -of real advantage only in hot weather) step in next spring. This will -be now very difficult, as there are two large<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> factors in the problem: -the Franco-British Fleet and the Russian Army.</p> - -<p>"(3) A neutral Power steps in and makes the scales go down at one or -the other side. If this intervention should be in favour of the Entente -the crushing of Austria would be almost immediate, and all the forces -could be concentrated against Germany, so that the latter would be -forced to ask for peace.</p> - -<p>"What is certain is that the war will have a sort of steady character -up to March or April, and that Germany reckons she will have to make -her maximum effort at that moment.</p> - -<p>"Somebody says the end of this war will be hurried by financial -reasons. I do not think that these will, alone, be strong enough to -settle this gigantic struggle. They are certainly an element worth -considering, but only after the military one."</p> - -<p>"And what will be the consequences of this war?" I ask.</p> - -<p>"I don't think the difference on the European map will be big in either -case. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Germany has fully realised what a mistake was the cession of -Alsace-Lorraine by France. The colonies will certainly be the most -affected by the future peace; but, of course, nowadays a war like -this has hardly any pretension of leading to the annexing of new -territories. What Europe is struggling for is supremacy of the -economical interests of one nation over another.</p> - -<p>"The idea that the largest Empire is the most powerful is childish, and -if this had not been proved a long time ago the present European war -would be enough to do so."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER II</span> <span class="smaller">POTSDAM AND HAMBURG</span></h2> - -<p>For my trip to Potsdam I had a bright, sunny morning. Potsdam, the -favourite residence of the Kaiser, and one of the most intensely -Prussian towns of Prussia, owing to the enormous number of barracks, -military buildings, and academies she has in proportion to her size, -attracted me for two reasons.</p> - -<p>First, I knew any amount of military drill was daily going on in the -large drill grounds, and that Potsdam, the cradle of the Prussian Army, -would be specially interesting to see in war time.</p> - -<p>Secondly, the only concentration camp in the immediate vicinity of -Berlin in which British prisoners are kept is Doberitz, quite close to -Potsdam. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> - -<p>Potsdam gave me straight away the impression of being absolutely full -of soldiers. The regular garrison has gone to the front, of course, but -the first classes of the Landsturm, just called to arms, are drilling -day and night in the grounds of the artillery barracks.</p> - -<p>Some of the new guns (for the Russian frontier, I learn) are being -tested, and the military academy has been converted into a huge -hospital. The ugly, pretentious little town, full of copies of -old Italian and French buildings, seemed to be populated by an -extraordinary number of people in mourning, probably owing to the -fact that Potsdam being a garrison town, quite a number of officers' -families reside there.</p> - -<p>The entrance to the castle of Sans Souci, to the New Palace, and to the -Marble Palace is <i>verboten</i>. I asked the reason of this, and I was told -that the buildings are now being devoted to military purposes.</p> - -<p>I was losing all hope of being able to see something of interest when -the noise of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> powerful engine made me look over my head. A gigantic -Zeppelin was performing different evolutions, dropping and rising again -hundreds of feet, changing the direction, and pointing a massive nose -now to the earth, now to the sky.</p> - -<p>I could see from the stability planes and from the shape of the tail -that it was one of the very latest models; also a sort of silvery -paint, probably the aluminium varnish which has been in use for years -in the Italian aerial fleet, had been adopted instead of the old grey -or copal varnish. I easily managed to find out that this was the first -test of a new machine, that two airships exactly alike were being -equipped in the flying grounds on the west side of the town, and that -old Count Zeppelin himself was looking after the operations.</p> - -<p>From morning to sunset there was an enormous activity in the whole of -the aerial park. Over a hundred aeroplanes of the Taube type were under -construction, and I was told that in every one of the German towns -which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> possesses aeroplane works, flying machines are being built in -large numbers. Apparently the idea is not only to supply machines in -place of those lost or damaged on the frontiers, but to have a very -large number of aeroplanes ready for next spring.</p> - -<p>The figures I heard varied very much, but a well-informed officer said -that Germany will have in March-April over a thousand new machines, -and that the engines of the whole air-fleet are already finished. I -asked what was Germany's object in getting such an enormous number of -machines ready, but I could only get the answer, "You wait and see!"</p> - -<p>As for the balloons, the largest workshops are in Posen and Hanover.</p> - -<p>The hangars erected at Potsdam are only four, but they are very -large, and a new system of concrete has been used in place of wood or -corrugated iron.</p> - -<p>The new Zeppelin seems very agile, considering its huge volume. The -cigar-like shape seems to me to be thicker than the old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> model, and the -distance between the gondolas carrying the engines and the body of the -airship has been very much reduced.</p> - -<p>A kind old lady lent me her good field-glasses, and I could see that -the crew numbered over a dozen, and that a general in uniform was on -board. The new airship did not, for the moment, show any number or mark -of any kind. After a few more evolutions the Zeppelin disappeared, -concealed by the trees of the Brauhausberg.</p> - -<p>I gave back the glasses to the old lady who lent them to me, and she -said that she was a widow of a captain who died in the 'seventies near -Sedan, and had now two sons and two sons-in-law at the front. "They are -at the right wing fighting the Englishmen, at the place of honour. Do -you know England at all?" she asked me, and then went on without giving -me time to answer her question.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I do hate that country! She had no business to come into this war, -and without her we should at this time be in Paris. Our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> fleet would -have destroyed the French fleet, and everything would be over."</p> - -<p>I asked her if any of her relations had been wounded.</p> - -<p>"Yes," she answered, "one of my sons last month. He was sent back here -for two weeks, but now he has recovered and has gone to the front -again."</p> - -<p>I could not help admiring the old lady; she was only thinking of the -success of the campaign, and very little of the danger that her sons -might never come back. The German woman has remained, in this way, the -wife of the fierce, barbarous warrior of Attila, in peace time counted -as a slave, or at best as a nurse for the children, but ready to buckle -the breast-plate of her man and to kiss him good-bye with dry eyes when -the moment for fighting comes. In peace-time one has the impression -that this type of woman has disappeared from Germany, and that her -place has been taken by the provincial type—sentimental up to her -wedding-day, practical after, or by the coquettish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> city type of woman, -who tries to copy the Parisienne or the Viennese, and only succeeds -in being the caricature of a smart woman, handicapped as she is by a -certain clumsiness of body and spirit.</p> - -<p>Now her country is at war, the German woman has become again the -descendant of the Valkyrie, of the wife of the mediæval warrior, of the -nursing woman of the 1870's.</p> - -<p>This war, sweeping away the paint of more or less real culture, of -social convention, of borrowed ways and manners, brings to the surface -the wild qualities of men but also the good ones of women.</p> - -<p>I asked the old lady to whom I was talking if she did not feel terribly -anxious and upset about her sons, and she answered:—</p> - -<p>"I really haven't time to think much about them. Everybody is so busy -just now. We have got miseries of all kinds—wounded, refugees from -the Russian frontiers, lonely children to look after—and everybody is -trying to do his very best in helping the country." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> - -<p>I asked her the way to Doberitz, and having crossed by the ferry boat a -small branch of the Havel, I went on in the direction of the village. -In a very large field at the back of the Potsdam's cavalry barracks I -saw a couple of thousand horses arranged in large circles of about one -hundred each, round huge piles of saddles.</p> - -<p>A number of reservists were busy showing some of the animals, and -cleaning and looking after some others. The horses, seen in the -distance, seemed perfectly fresh, and some of them looked exceptionally -fine. They seemed to belong mostly to the Hungarian type, and had long -hairy manes and tails, and strong muscles in their legs.</p> - -<p>I was very astonished, as I had read, and not in English papers only, -that the German Army was short of horses, and that the full cavalry -contingent was at the frontier.</p> - -<p>Those horses, I learnt, were a fresh supply, just received from Austria -and Hungary, as the southern Allies apparently have got many more -horses than soldiers to ride them. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> - -<p>Other very large depôts of horses, which will be ready for military -service in a month or so, were at the south side of Berlin and Eisleben -and Leipsig. The Government are also trying to get horses from Sweden, -Denmark, and Norway, but the steps taken in this direction don't seem -to have given very good results.</p> - -<p>Germany is trying to get horses from everywhere, even at very high -prices, but, like the aeroplanes, not so much for immediate use, but to -have them ready for next spring. It is fully realised that cavalry at -the present moment, with winter frosts and conditions prevailing, would -be of hardly any use.</p> - -<p>After a fairly long walk on the muddy road I reached Doberitz and asked -for the concentration camp. I was told that it depended on whether I -wanted to see the new or the old one. The new one consists of large -temporary constructions, which are being erected on the manœuvring -grounds on the Spandau road, and which will not be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> complete for some -time. The old one is at the extreme west side of the town, and is -really a large, lofty country house, with large green houses attached, -and a chapel, formerly inhabited by Carmelite nuns, standing in a -spacious garden. Only about two hundred English prisoners are kept -there, but many French prisoners are quartered in another building half -a mile distant. The large concentration camps are not here, but in the -North of Germany. The Tommies (I don't know if there are any officers -quartered with them) are made generally useful; they cut wood for the -trenches, sew and prepare sacks for the same purpose, and anyone who -has ability to do extra work receives a small payment for it, with -which he can purchase tobacco, etc.</p> - -<p>I asked if it was possible to talk with the prisoners, but was -told that not even German people are allowed to do so, and that no -permission to enter the camp was ever accorded, whatever the reasons.</p> - -<p>I thought it would be useless, and probably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> dangerous, for me to try -and get in, and I had to be content with walking close to the long, -white wall which separates the grounds of the old convent from the main -road. I heard voices talking in the purest Cockney accent, laughter, -and popular English songs hummed at the other side.</p> - -<p>At the south of Doberitz there is a small hill less than 100 ft. high, -covered with thick vegetation. From its summit I managed to get a good -look into the Concentration Camp.</p> - -<p>Forty or fifty British soldiers, in khaki trousers and shirt-sleeves, -were smoking and sitting about outside the main entrance of the house. -It was about two o'clock in the afternoon, and they were evidently -enjoying their after-dinner rest.</p> - -<p>Two seemed to be in rather friendly conversation with one of the German -soldiers who were looking after them, and another was listening to an -old officer who was giving him some instructions.</p> - -<p>I noticed that the Tommy stood at <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>attention, as though he were in -front of a British officer, and that, when the German went among the -soldiers, they saluted him in the regular manner. All along the inside -of the high wall of the garden Prussian soldiers were walking up and -down as stiff as if they were mounting guard at the Imperial Palace.</p> - -<p>"What would I give," I said to myself, "to be able to talk to them, -to give them fresh news from England, to take home their letters. -A scrap of paper with their names only would probably be enough to -bring happiness to hundreds of English families which are now mourning -them as dead. It seemed ridiculous not to be able to get somehow into -contact with those men who were only four or five hundred feet distance -from me."</p> - -<p>Of course, it couldn't be done, and I walked sadly down the little hill -thinking of the poor young fellows, probably worried by false news -about the war and forced to prepare material for the trenches which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> -will stop their pals' bullets and protect their gaolers.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>The few days I had decided to spend in Berlin coming to an end, I set -out upon the return journey through Hamburg, in which town I wanted -to see as much as possible of Germany's naval preparations. Though I -fully realised that it would be much better to have gone to Kiel for -this purpose, or even better to Wilhelmshaven, I did not attempt such a -journey because of the terribly slow railway communications, and also -because of the improbability of getting anywhere near the arsenals.</p> - -<p>Hamburg, the largest town in Germany after Berlin, the oldest -shipbuilding city in Europe (she was already rich and powerful when -Glasgow was unknown and Liverpool was but a small fishing village), is -probably the most representative town in the whole of Germany.</p> - -<p>Here the prosperity of Germany after the proclamation of the Empire -shows itself in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> a mighty way; the words of August Bebel have found the -right kind of soil, and have produced the wonderful organisation of -workmen which was powerful enough to erect the Gewerkschaftshaus.</p> - -<p>A question which has puzzled me since the beginning of the war is, what -are the German Socialists doing? What happened to their international -sympathies; what do they think of this war and of the way Germany -is treating the Belgian and French population? When I asked these -questions to a well-known Hamburg Socialist, the only answer he could -give me was this:</p> - -<p>"We are reduced to a very small number at the present moment; when a -Socialist workman is called to arms, not only he immediately forgets -all about his Socialist beliefs, but even his family, his father, and -his brothers—not to mention women, who are absolutely war-mad, seem -to lose all interest in what is not war. Of course, I firmly believe -that as soon as the war is over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> Socialist Party will become even -stronger than it was before, but for the present we are so few that -we don't dare to say a word, nor to criticise that which ought to be -criticised."</p> - -<p>Waiting for the resurrection of Socialism, the Labour Party is -indirectly helping the common cause. Three entire floors of the -Workmen's Institute have been transformed into hospitals, and nurses, -doctors, sanitary appliances, etc., are supplied by the Trade Unions' -League.</p> - -<p>All shipbuilding firms, from the enormous concerns of international -fame to the smallest, have been taken up by the Government, or are at -least working for it.</p> - -<p>Godeffroy, Stülchen, Weichhorst, etc., are now specially occupied in -the construction of submarines. The strictest secrecy is observed about -the plant, and the number of ships under construction is not known.</p> - -<p>The enormous Vulcan Works on the other side of the town, the commercial -Altona, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> the still larger Blohm and Voss works, are turning out at -present four battleships, and the former firm has nearly finished a new -floating dock which is said to be the largest in existence. Hamburg -will have altogether six large floating docks, which will certainly -prove of great help in the work of rescuing damaged warships. In less -than two hours they may be taken right down to the open sea, through -the Elbe, and from there reach at full speed any ships too badly -damaged to steam by their own means and convey them to the Hamburg -dockyards.</p> - -<p>To say that the shipbuilding concerns have been "taken up" by the -Government is really inexact and superficial; nearly all of the firms -have furnished the German Navy with some ships during the last few -years—Blohm, for instance, is responsible for the <i>Von der Tann</i>, the -<i>Moltke</i>, and the <i>Goeben</i>.</p> - -<p>A Hamburg firm that specialises in lighthouses, etc., is now -constructing an enormous number of searchlights, which are to be added -to those already possessed by the Navy, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> which are mentioned -here as <i>specially made for the attack on the British coasts</i>. Other -searchlights, almost equally powerful, but not quite so heavy, are -fixed on all balloons and aeroplanes.</p> - -<p>The unemployment plague, which is very serious all over Germany, -especially among women, is worse here than anywhere else; nearly all -the factories, mills, and works having been closed long since. While -great activity reigns in the dockyards, the Asia and America quay, the -Petroleum-Hafen, and the quays of the great steamship companies, which -generally present a picturesque and busy scene, are deserted. The big -ships, bereft of all their goods, have a sort of sleepy look about -them, and they give the impression that not a soul is on board.</p> - -<p>Near the Ellenzhobz-Hafen one of the large steamers of the -Hamburg-America line is being converted into a Red Cross Hospital. The -gilded furniture, the carpets and pictures are being taken away and -deposited on the bank by a large steam crane, and the Red<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> Cross mark -has already been painted on the ship.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>I would much rather not go over again my return journey. It is a -sickening story of slow trains, stopped at every station, of annoyances -of every kind, of hurried meals in bad railway station buffets, of -hours and hours of waiting because a train was cancelled at the last -minute and the next one was full of soldiers or wounded, and did not -take ordinary passengers, etc.</p> - -<p>At Bremen I am stopped as an alien enemy, insulted by a drunken crowd -and taken to the police station, where I am detained the rest of the -night. In the morning the inspector comes, looks at the mysterious -passport I got in Berlin, apologises and releases me just in time to -have missed the morning train. This identical scene is repeated at the -Dutch frontier.</p> - -<p>My mind is naturally full of recollections, recollections a little -chaotic owing largely to the fact that to have taken a single note -would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> have been very dangerous for me during the search I had to -undergo.</p> - -<p>There was certainly an enormous difference between London and Berlin -after three months' war. The optimism which in Germany is very strong -among the people in the street and very moderate in the army is here in -London exactly in opposite proportions.</p> - -<p>As for the economic position, the commercial possibilities and -industrial crisis, no comparison is possible between the two countries; -the geographical position of Britain and the action of her Fleet give -her an enormous superiority over her enemies.</p> - -<p>Signs of financial distress, it is true, are not very evident in -Berlin; the increase in prices has been small, and has begun only -during the last few weeks. I don't know if things will go on like -this when the winter has almost paralysed the production of German -foodstuffs, the reserves are exhausted, and the importation through -Denmark and Holland has somehow been stopped.</p> - -<p>It is needless to say that Germany has no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> Colonial contingent to put -on against our Colonial troops, and that the fighting power of our -enemies, owing to the strictly applied recruiting system, and to the -above fact, is essentially limited, while Britain's can have no end of -resources. Certainly this war will be very, very long.</p> - -<p>The high spirit of the German nation, the decision of the Army to fight -to the very last, the fact that the Kaiser knows perfectly that the -<i>débâcle</i> would be the end of the Prussian hegemony and of his family's -power, and the military education given to the German people during the -whole of the last century, make of this nation an extremely difficult -enemy to tame.</p> - -<p>Endless sacrifices of comforts, of money, of life, will be needed not -only from England, France, Russia, and Belgium, but from all other -nations on earth who have simply been considering Germany as a huge -latent danger during the last forty years.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> - -<p class="bold"><span class="smcap">Constantinople</span>, <i>October 31st, 1914</i>.</p> - -<p>Here I am, after all! From the large window of my room at the Tokatlian -Hotel, the wonderful city, the Bosphorus, and, far away, the woods -and the mosques of Scutari, look like a dream-vision in the blue, -transparent light which seems to come not from the sky only but from -the trees, from the sea, from everywhere.</p> - -<p>It is midnight, and everything is perfectly quiet.</p> - -<p>If an artist had to choose a landscape which should symbolise the -perfect peace of men and things, he would choose the one on which I am -now looking. And yet even here there is war! </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> - -<p>On my way from Dedeagach to Constantinople I got news of the -declaration of war by Turkey. Perhaps if I had tried to cross the -Turkish frontier only a few hours later I should not have succeeded; -as a matter of fact, to-day I saw any number of foreigners, English, -French, Italians, Russians, and Greeks, trying to leave Constantinople -by train.</p> - -<p>Only very few of them could manage to get away, as Turkey is busy -sending troops to the western frontier, and only a few seats are -available for ordinary travellers.</p> - -<p>The foreigners who could not get away to-day had to content themselves -with booking seats for next week, seats which, though they had to be -paid for, were not guaranteed.</p> - -<p>The Dardanelles are closed, of course, and the only communication -with the rest of Europe is this fantastic railway service. French and -English people can, in theory, leave the town. Not so Russian people.</p> - -<p>A special concentration camp has been arranged in a large old bazaar -near the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> Odoun Kapou, and quite close to the military gaol. There is -room for seven thousand prisoners, and I am afraid the young Englishmen -and Frenchmen who don't get away pretty soon will have to go and keep -company with the Russians.</p> - -<p>Of course, the concentration camps are copied from German models. -Everything, in fact, in Constantinople is copied from a German model. -During the last four or five months Enver Pasha, "the soul of the -new Turkey," according to his newspaper—<i>Le Jeune Turc</i>—"le trait -d'union entre Allemagne et Turquie," according to the perhaps more -correct definition of <i>Le Stamboul</i>—which, by the way, has been -suppressed—assisted by a large staff of German officers, has been -arranging for the wholesale Germanisation of Turkey.</p> - -<p>There is no doubt about the result; it is excellent, at least from the -German point of view. It was not a hurried job; since Algeciras Germany -has redoubled her military activity in Turkey. This work has gone on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> -steadily for years, while alongside of it Germany has carried out a -careful and far-sighted commercial expansion.</p> - -<p>To take at the present moment only Constantinople, and to say nothing -of the rest of European or Asiatic Turkey, you find the water, the -gas and electric light, the railways, the importation of wheat, the -motor-'bus services, most of the shipping companies, and the tramcars -all belong to German companies or to companies which, if Turkish or -French in name, are controlled and financed by Germans.</p> - -<p>The German Government has assisted in every possible way in these -enterprises; many German firms were taken up by the Turkish War Office -during the last few weeks. A typical case was that of a very large -German fireworks firm, which was established about three years ago, -and never turned out any fireworks to the knowledge of anybody in -Constantinople.</p> - -<p>Now the large German staff of the firm is producing any amount of -ammunition, and if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> what is said here is true an enormous quantity of -nitre and cotton-wool, and also lead and other metals, has been stored -in the firm during the last few weeks.</p> - -<p>It is absolutely ridiculous to talk about a Russian aggression in the -Black Sea, as most of the Turkish papers are doing. Everybody knew here -that Turkey meant to go to war.</p> - -<p>Such was the view of Germany and of Enver Pasha. Not only was the -Turkish Army, under the direction of about 200 German officers, along -with Turkish officers trained in Germany, getting ready as fast as -possible since the beginning of the war, but two months before the war -broke out the Turkish War Office began to get busy, to change generals -and substitute for the old decorative officers a more efficient staff, -to order new uniforms and boots.</p> - -<p>It is difficult to say what were the intentions of Turkey at that -moment, but the fact remains that during the past forty years the -Turkish Army has never been in better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> condition and less lacking -materials than to-day.</p> - -<p>This does not mean that the army is strong or well equipped; far from -it, but it is certain that very much has been done lately and a fair -amount of money spent.</p> - -<p>What were the reasons of all this activity, and where did the money -come from? It is easy enough to answer these questions—Germany -expected to be at war and wanted Turkey to be ready.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>I have spent my first day in Constantinople in a long walk through the -old town. I wanted to see how the declaration of war had affected the -population. To tell the truth, it does not seem to have affected the -people at all.</p> - -<p>The manager of the hotel told me it was better to substitute my western -headgear for a fez if I wanted to go into Stamboul or Scutari, and he -advised me also to speak German if I had to ask for some directions.</p> - -<p>It is the only foreign language which is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> not likely to wake up the -anti-Christian sentiments of the crowd.</p> - -<p>Pera, the modern and civilised part of Constantinople, gives the -impression of a big spa out of season. The large hotels are mostly -closed, the cafés, the restaurants, the shops which generally sell only -to the tourist had no customers this year and did not open at all.</p> - -<p>I noticed that the few shops open had taken away from the windows -the little boards announcing that English or Russian is spoken. "On -parle français" was still in evidence, but the other languages were -apparently extinct. Constantinople at the moment speaks only German.</p> - -<p>Protected by my red fez, I crossed the long bridge which leads to -Stamboul and found myself in the old city. The crowd seemed to be -occupied with anything on earth but the war. There was the usual noise, -there were the usual cries, the usual slow-going traffic.</p> - -<p>This seemed rather curious to me. Was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> it possible that nobody could -realise what a terrible move the Turkish Government had made the day -before? Did they even know that Turkey was at war with Russia and that -to-morrow probably all the Allies would be against her?</p> - -<p>Only the night before the key to the enigma had been given me by a -dragoman who, though in a lower social scale, could nevertheless speak -German:—"We did not want this war," he said. "We did not want either -the Balkan War or the war against Italy, but, after all, we know -perfectly that the more silly things our rulers do, the sooner they -will have to go, and the sooner the better.</p> - -<p>"We are tired of the so-called Young Turk Government. It is worse than -the Government of Abdul Hamid. Things being as they are, we keep quiet -and hope it will be over as soon as possible."</p> - -<p>"But you would not like to have a Russian Government, for instance?" -said I.</p> - -<p>"It would not be worse than this one," he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> answered. "None could be -worse. One fine day, when things go badly, Enver Bey and all the Young -Turks will clear off with the money they have made at our expense, and -leave us to settle the account. They don't care at all for Turkey. -They only care for their private ambitions. Most of them are not Turks -either, but Greeks or Armenians or Levantines or Jews.</p> - -<p>"The Turkish people have realised long ago that Turkey, as a nation, -resisted as long as she did because the European nations could not -agree on her partition. The only thing to do was to keep quiet and try -to avoid any struggle. We should have done that if Abdul Hamid had not -been deprived of his power; our new rulers had the dream of making -Turkey once more a Great Power. But their efforts had quite an opposite -result."</p> - -<p>All this may sound rather tragic, but it was spoken as if it was the -most natural thing in the world for a modern Turk to regard himself as -simply the citizen of a country that was up for sale by auction. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> - -<p>My informant did not even seem to care to know who the buyer might be.</p> - -<p>The dragoman represents the most patriotic part of the population of -Turkey—the Turks. As for the other elements—Greek, Bulgar, Armenian, -Serbian, Wallach, Gipsy, and Jewish, which are in numbers ten times -superior to the Turks—they have different aspirations, and naturally -look for a change in the direction of their own nationality or, at -least, of their own religion.</p> - -<p>The only people who have sympathy for Germany seem to be the Jews -and Gipsies, the former, who live mostly on the Bosphorus and the -Dardanelles, being closely connected with Germany by commercial -interests.</p> - -<p>It is in this attitude of complete passivity that the population of -Constantinople is waiting. The attempt to wake up the Islamic feeling -is not likely to have a great influence in European Turkey.</p> - -<p>To-day in most places meetings have been arranged, and muezzins have -started promising the paradise of Allah, the Houris and all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> the rest, -to those who are ready to die for the Motherland and the true God.</p> - -<p>My dragoman told me they did not arouse much enthusiasm amongst the -population. I heard a Moslem preacher myself address the Mevlevis, the -dancing Dervishes, who were giving an extra performance.</p> - -<p>Of course, I could not understand a word of the sermon, but the -Mevlevis, if not the public, got much excited, some wounding themselves -with swords as they offered their blades to Allah.</p> - -<p>The cry of "Damour Kaffir" (dogs of infidels) and a few suspicious -glances in my direction persuaded me that it was better to leave the -Dervishes alone, and I made my way out of the dense crowd.</p> - -<p>In the little square outside, standing on the steps covered with green -and blue china tiles of a wonderful old sacred fountain, was a sort of -recruiting sergeant with two soldiers acting as helps, one carrying a -large book, the Koran, the other the green standard of the Prophet. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> - -<p>Around them half-a-dozen filthy-looking children were standing in -astonishment, but there was no sign of a recruit.</p> - -<p>To-night, when my indispensable dragoman translated for me a leading -article from the <i>Tanin</i>, the Turkish official newspaper which is the -mouthpiece of Enver Pasha's pan-Islamic ideals, I was much surprised to -hear the following paragraph:—</p> - -<p>"The whole of Turkey is ready to take up arms against the infidels. The -enthusiasm awakened in Constantinople by the declaration of war against -Russia is almost unbelievable. Turkey is ready to take again her place -amongst the great European Powers. We are now members of the New Triple -Alliance, and with the help of Allah and of our powerful Allies we are -certain to get back again all we have lost through the fault of our -late Government."</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p class="right"><i>November 2nd.</i></p> - -<p>I think that what happened this morning is really too extraordinary -even for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> Turkish Diplomacy, too curious even for one who knows the -extremely curious systems of the Turkish Government.</p> - -<p>Yesterday all the Constantinople newspapers were talking about the -declaration of war against Russia (the Ambassadors of the Entente -having to leave very soon) and the resurrection of the Turkish Empire; -the muezzins were preaching the war, the recruiting sergeants were -trying to get new men; to-day the <i>Tanin</i>, the newspaper of the Turkish -Government, says that Turkey is not at war, and that she will only -defend herself if the Powers of the Entente move against her. How -delightfully Oriental!</p> - -<p>Of course, Turkish papers have an excellent habit of never -contradicting themselves. What was said yesterday is completely -forgotten to-day; not a word about it. <i>So Turkey is not at war.</i></p> - -<p>That is why, perhaps, some signs of war have begun to appear to-day in -Constantinople. Turkish logic!</p> - -<p>This morning there has been "a sort of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> demonstration" in favour of -the war. A couple of thousand people with Turkish and German flags, and -under the very eyes of the passive police, wrecked two or three Russian -shops and also the windows of a French bookseller who dared to exhibit -Russian and English books. Afterwards the crowd came down the Avenue -des Petits Champs, where the Embassies are, and hissed the Russian and -the French.</p> - -<p>The beautiful Florentine palace, the residence of the British -Ambassador, had a few windows smashed, and two large hotels owned by -French societies were also damaged.</p> - -<p>This Jingo crowd was mostly composed of people wearing the fez, but -of rather Western appearance. Some of them, fair haired, and of true -Teutonic bearing, did not leave any doubts about their nationality, -some bore the mark of their Jewish descent, some belonged to the -international mob of all big seaports. I don't know if amongst the -crowd there was a single real Turk. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> - -<p>As I write, in the large square outside the Arsenal, military -exercises under the command of Turkish and German officers are going -on. The Germans attached to the Turkish army or to the Embassy in -Constantinople have organised all the young Germans into a regular -troop. Now every one of them is acting as an instructor, and probably -before long they will have a uniform and an official status in the -Turco-German army.</p> - -<p>During the last two weeks trains loaded with arms, ammunition of all -kinds, Red Cross requisites, and even guns have been arriving from the -north. An enormous quantity of sea mines has been sent down—evident -sign that the Germans intend to follow in the Dardanelles the same -tactics of naval war they are following in the North Sea.</p> - -<p>A large part of the Fleet, I really don't know if I have to call it the -Turkish fleet or the Allied fleet, or perhaps the German fleet, has -come back into the Bosphorus.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> The names of the vessels are, of course, -quite Turkish. The <i>Goeben</i> was rechristened <i>Sultan Selim</i>; the -<i>Breslau</i> got instead the new name of <i>Medilla</i>, which means <i>Mitilen</i>, -in Turkish.</p> - -<p>The bridge on the Golden Horn is open, and yesterday the <i>Goeben</i> went -right across the long bay and dropped anchor outside the Arsenal. -Then on the ship began a sort of feverish work. A number of large -flat-bottomed boats were sent out from the Arsenal loaded with workmen, -who proceeded to do some mysterious repairs on board. It was possible -to hear the continuous hammering, but the distance did not allow me to -see what kind of work was going on.</p> - -<p>Certainly no great damage had been done to the ship because, while the -repairs were going on, a large quantity of ammunition and numerous -cases which looked as though they contained foodstuffs were lifted on -board with the help of two big cranes. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> - -<p>In the afternoon I made the acquaintance of a German officer who had -been on board the <i>Goeben</i> during the last three years. He told me that -the ship had not suffered any serious damage; something went wrong with -the helm, but it would be all right in the evening.</p> - -<p>My new friend seemed most proud of the exploits of his ship during the -last month, and when I flattered his vanity by telling him that the -<i>Goeben</i> and <i>Breslau</i> had been the talk of all Europe for many weeks, -he was so pleased that he willingly told me all that had happened on -board since the outbreak of war.</p> - -<p>"It is a wonderful story," he began. "Two days before the outbreak of -hostilities the <i>Goeben</i> was at Fiume loading coal, while the <i>Breslau</i> -was in the southern part of the Adriatic Sea.</p> - -<p>"We got orders to meet her at a certain spot in the open Mediterranean, -and we sailed, leaving ashore a few of our men who had obtained short -leave. Even our wireless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> operator was ill, and had to be left in -the hospital at Fiume, but luckily enough we had somebody else on -board who understood wireless as well as he did. If not, I don't know -how we could have managed it, as when we were in the Ionian Sea the -meeting-place with the <i>Breslau</i> was suddenly changed on account of -some English ships which were reported leaving Malta that day, and -likely to discover our route.</p> - -<p>"As the declaration of war was expected at any moment, we were trying -to go as far westward as possible in order to be able to do some damage -either on the Algerian or Tunisian coast. We got another wireless -message, and the order to show ourselves on the African coast, and -to retreat as soon as possible to the Dardanelles. If necessary, the -Turkish fleet would have protected our retreat into the Straits.</p> - -<p>"We went straight to Bona and Philippeville, which were the only places -of importance not too far from our position at that moment. You know -what a lot of damage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> we managed to do in a few hours. Of course, the -most important thing was not to destroy the towns, but to call the -attention of the British and French fleets to that spot so that they -would rush down there and leave us free the route to the Dardanelles.</p> - -<p>"We left the African coast in the afternoon and made our way eastward -as fast as our engines would allow us to go. Twice we saw British -ships scouting, but we managed to avoid being seen and coming to an -engagement which would have brought all the united fleet against us -in a few hours' time. Later on we met two more British ships, which -started to chase us.</p> - -<p>"We were far superior in speed, and would have left them behind us but -for a third ship which appeared on the horizon down south. The only -thing for us to do was to rush forward. We had to seek an asylum in the -bay of Messina.</p> - -<p>"The neutrality of Italy at that moment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> was not a certainty. Our move -would really have helped her to take a decision, and to keep faithful -to her allies as well as protect her own real interests. Our Government -thought so too, but Italy did not move, so we found ourselves under the -necessity of leaving Messina in daytime.</p> - -<p>"The British fleet, sure of our capture, was waiting outside the -Italian territorial waters. We really did not hope to get out of the -Bay without engaging in a battle under very unequal conditions.</p> - -<p>"The weather, which had been wonderfully fine for over a month, came to -our help. In the afternoon it began to get cloudy, and at ten o'clock -it was pitch dark. This was quite an exception in the Straits of -Messina at that time of year.</p> - -<p>"We can thank that darkness for our escape. With no light on board, -we went right across the bay; on both sides we could see the lights -of the British warships, and the searchlight often explored the sea -at a few metres' distance from us. We were all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> on deck waiting to be -discovered, and to engage in a fight which could not possibly result in -our favour.</p> - -<p>"At a certain moment a light, probably belonging to a fishing boat, -attracted the attention of the British ships, and all the searchlights -were concentrated on that spot. This almost certainly saved us. Slowly -and silently we passed at a few hundred metres' distance from an -Italian warship on sentinel near the Calabrese coast. If she had seen -us we should have answered the signals, and that would have attracted -the attention of the whole British squadron.</p> - -<p>"We thought we were quite out of danger, but when the morning broke we -discovered a British ship following us. We increased our speed, but -the other ship seemed to be as fast as we were. Then we decided to get -rid of her, and while we went on by the side of the Greek coast the -<i>Breslau</i> got farther down in the open sea. The British ship stopped -undecided; we opened fire on her, and she answered with a lot of -shells,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> none of which reached either of our ships. Always fighting, we -made our way forward.</p> - -<p>"Near the Greek Island of Cerigo we must have hit the boat with one of -our torpedoes, as she seemed to lose speed and then suddenly stop. We -lost sight of her, but after a few hours we came in sight of a ship -hoisting a French flag. Before she saw us we changed our route and hid -ourselves behind one of the Cyclades Islands, in a sort of triangle of -sea from which we could see, unseen, in every direction.</p> - -<p>"We were very short of ammunition, coal, and everything else owing to -the hurried departure from our base, and also to the long ride across -the Mediterranean. There were also some urgent repairs to be done on -board of our ship. The <i>Breslau</i> was untouched.</p> - -<p>"We stayed in our refuge two days, and in the evening of the second -day, hearing from some officers who had been sent out scouting -with motor-boats that the route was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> free, we made our way to the -Dardanelles. You know the rest of our story."</p> - -<p>"And what about the sale of the two ships to Turkey?" I asked candidly.</p> - -<p>"The sale was a very simple operation. We got our carpenters on board -to paint the new names over the old ones. That was all. The job was not -neatly done, that's true, as the old names were in embossed letters, -and they always showed through, although they were painted grey!" he -said laughingly. "We didn't even trouble to change the name on the -lifeboats, etc., as we knew that in a few weeks' time that would not be -of any more importance."</p> - -<p>"I suppose you have had rather a busy time in Constantinople during the -last two months?"</p> - -<p>"Terribly busy. We had to train quite a number of Turkish sailors, who -were quite all right for an old-fashioned fleet, but did not know what -to do on a modern warship. The artillery men were only used to very old -materials, and had no idea of our modern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> guns; anyhow, we have done -it, and done it very quickly too. Now they are as good as any sailor in -any other navy. The five principal units of our navy in the Bosphorus -are now commanded by German officers, and have a mixed crew which is -likely to prove very efficient."</p> - -<p>"And what about the fight in the Black Sea?"</p> - -<p>"About that, dear sir, I cannot say a word. The news for the public was -given by the Orient Bureau to the Press and the rest has to be kept -secret, at least for the present."</p> - -<p>"So you are converted, more or less, into a Turkish officer?"</p> - -<p>"Into a Turkish officer? No fear. We have converted the Turkish ships -into German ships; that is what we have done. In a few days the world -will see that the Turkish fleet would never have been able to perform -what we are going to do."</p> - -<p>And with a vague gesture full of obscure menace and foretelling -wonderful deeds, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> hero of the <i>Goeben</i> left me to go back on board.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>I devoted my afternoon to a visit to Aya Sophia, the wonderful church -which is still gorgeous and majestic, in spite of the Turkish attempts -to disfigure it.</p> - -<p>There was a special war-time service going on. One of the large old -carpets, which are supposed to have belonged to Mahomet, had been taken -down from the wall, on which they generally hang, for display on the -floor under the centre of the big dome. At the carpet's corners four -<i>imans</i> were praying with fervour, and at their side four censers -filled the air with clouds of smoke and strong perfume. On the carpet -lay the sword of Mahomet the Conqueror, the Sultan who has dedicated -St. Sophia to the Mahomedan cult. He constructed the higher of the -temple's minarets.</p> - -<p>A thick crowd of kneeling figures covered the whole floor of the large -cathedral. The sacred sword is only exhibited on very <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>important -occasions. Since the Tripoli war it has never been taken from its -jewelled case. The news that this time the famous arm has been exposed -will spread all round the Islamic world, and the Germans seem to hope -that this sign that the religion of Allah is in danger will wake up all -the followers of Mohammed. But the high priests themselves do not seem -too sure of the fact. During the last few years the prestige of the -Sultan as supreme religious head has been greatly shaken; it is feared -that the present attitude of Turkey may lead to a new and stronger -schismatic movement. It is almost certain that the day Turkey loses -Constantinople, the Mahomedans will cease to consider the Sultan as -chief of their religion.</p> - -<p>While I was admiring the really imposing scene, made even more -fantastic by the flashing lights of hundreds of lamps, which emulated -the light of the sun coming in copiously through the windows, wide -open, four new <i>imans</i> took charge from the old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> ones. The sword will -be exposed a whole week, and during this time four of the highest -<i>cheiks</i> of the temple will be in continuous prayers around it.</p> - -<p>While leaving the Temple I crossed the side passage of the Gyneceus. -Here is the old door through which the priest who was celebrating the -mass when, according to Greek tradition, Mahomet the Conqueror rode on -horseback right in the middle of the church in 1454, disappeared with -the altar cup and his sacerdotal ornaments. The Turks ran after him -to kill him as they had done with thousands of people who had sought -asylum in the temple, but the door was immediately closed by a stone -wall.</p> - -<p>When St. Sophia is given back to the Christian cult, continues the -Greek tradition, the priest will reappear and continue the service at -the very point at which he was interrupted.</p> - -<p>It is one of the finest of popular beliefs, quite worth keeping alive -for its own sake.</p> - -<p>I wonder if the moment when the Greeks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> will have to admit that their -beautiful tradition is only a legend is not coming sooner than they -thought.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p class="right"><i>November 3rd.</i></p> - -<p>I have now been two days in Constantinople; I have compared the present -condition of the Army, of the Navy, and of the different Services -with their condition four years ago, when I came first to the Turkish -capital. I have recalled to my mind what I saw at Tripoli, three years -ago, when the Turks demonstrated their worth from a military point of -view; and, finally, I have taken into consideration the lessons to be -learned from their conduct in the Balkan War.</p> - -<p>There is only one possible conclusion: there is a big change in -everything; there is the evident mark of somebody who pulls the -strings, and pulls them with a definite object, and with strong and -delicate hands.</p> - -<p>That somebody is Enver Pasha.</p> - -<p>Till a few weeks ago the question: "Is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> Enver Pasha really a clever -politician and a first-rate military man?" would have had one answer -only—"Of course he is; he is the only great man of Turkey; as long as -he lives Turkey will have some hope of resurrection."</p> - -<p>This man, who has the celebrity and the ambition of a little Napoleon, -is, at the bottom, nothing more than a child with a large dose of -vanity. He worships publicity, he loves to see his photographs in the -big foreign papers, to read the gossip about his private life, in which -he used to pose as a <i>blasé</i> man of the world, surrounded by a full -score of wonderful princesses wanting only to marry him. His vanity -went as far as to make him proceed legally against a photographer who -dared to publish a picture postcard showing Enver as he really is, -short and stoutish.</p> - -<p>As for his character, he is neither capable nor determined. He takes -up everything with great enthusiasm, but never accomplishes his work. -The only deed of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> mighty career was the ruin of Abdul Hamid; Europe -looked at him as at a novel Brutus, and Enver made at once a world-wide -fame and a fairly large fortune.</p> - -<p>From his gilded cage, the beautiful Villa Allatini, on the Bosphorus, -in which he is kept prisoner, the former Sultan has written repeatedly -to the man who has dethroned him and led his country to take the most -foolish of steps, asking that neutrality should be observed as long -as possible, and saying that only by keeping friends with the great -Mediterranean Powers and Russia could the Sick Man of Europe obtain -another lease of life.</p> - -<p>Enver took no notice of the advice of the old Sovereign, who is -certainly one of the most Machiavellian and tactful politicians of -modern times. If anything, Enver tried to rush by personal action the -Turkish intervention.</p> - -<p>Here, in Constantinople, one imagines that he must have the gift of -ubiquity. He is everywhere. He traced personally the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> route of a new -railway line, which will connect directly the Arsenal with the main -line; he fixed the place where the platforms for the new large guns -from Germany were to be erected; he selected the houses which were to -serve as temporary barracks, hospitals, and depôts; he was seen on one -day at the two extreme points of the Dardanelles (a record considering -the leisurely Turkish communication), arranging for special protective -trenches to be constructed in defence of roads and railway lines -exposed to the fire of the naval artilleries. And while doing all this -material work he had all the diplomatic arrangements completely on his -shoulders, and had to carry out, as though not pretending to do so, the -orders from Berlin.</p> - -<p>A Diplomat who had many years of Turkish experience, having been -connected with one of the Embassies in Constantinople for over ten -years, tells me that, during the last month, and especially after his -marriage with the Sultan's niece, Enver Pasha has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> affected a sort of -private Court, and surrounded himself with truly Imperial luxuries. -Audience with him was more difficult than with the Sultan.</p> - -<p>"Enver flatters himself to act independently," said my diplomatic -friend. "He tries to play the great diplomat and the great captain, but -really he is only a toy in the hands of Germany. He has reorganised -the army and the navy with German officers, German arms, German money, -and he seems to believe that he has been very clever and got very much -for nothing. He does not realise that acting as he did has completely -ruined his country, whatever the result of the war.</p> - -<p>"I believe that Germany's plan is this: She hopes that Turkey, with her -fleet reinforced by the two German warships, will obtain an initial -success in the Black Sea. In this case she reckons on the Pan-Islamic -feelings waking up all over the Mussulman world, which will mean -serious trouble for England and France in North Africa, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>necessitating -the withdrawal of a part of their troops from the principal theatre of -operations.</p> - -<p>"If Turkey does not succeed in her action against Russia, the latter -will see her way open to Constantinople, and will probably not be able -to resist the temptation of sending down a large part of her troops, -and so press with less force on the Austro-German frontier.</p> - -<p>"Moreover, Germany hopes that this will break the perfect accord which, -up to the present, has lasted between the nations of the Entente. As -you see, Turkey in the German plan is reduced to the modest proportion -of the victim which will serve her in the matter of settling accounts -at the end of the war."</p> - -<p>To-day the general service decree issued three days ago takes effect, -and the newspapers say that Turkey will be able to raise an army -of over two and a half millions. The uniforms of the soldiers are -extraordinarily like those of the Germans, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> only difference being -the substitution of the fez for the cap.</p> - -<p>The troops look fit, and have brand-new uniforms and boots; the -cavalry, which has been taken over from the Asiatic side of the -Bosphorus, possesses exceptionally fine horses.</p> - -<p>But the weak spot of such troops lies in the officers; some of them, -belonging to Asiatic families, are ignorant and hardly understand -the use of modern arms or the systems of modern warfare; others, -German-trained, have absorbed a large amount of the grimness of their -instructors, and the soldiers have neither sympathy with nor confidence -in them. The Turkish soldiers are said to be good fighters, but in all -probability their fame still rests on the Crimean campaign. During the -Tripoli and Balkan wars they proved to be less than mediocre soldiers.</p> - -<p>These soldiers, who are going to fight an unknown enemy for a reason of -which they are ignorant, are in Constantinople in great numbers, and -every day new contingents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> arrive from the other side of the Bosphorus. -They walk about Stamboul with a sort of surprised look in their black -eyes. The officers prefer Pera and Galata, the European parts of -Constantinople, and are mostly seen accompanied by Germans.</p> - -<p>Pera offers really very little in the way of attractions just now.</p> - -<p>All the theatres have been closed by order, probably for the reason -that the third-class Italian opera company and the still worse French -vaudeville company, have refused to risk the lives of their actors. The -only thing to do at night is to go to one of the interminable <i>café -chantant</i> shows. Galata has over fifty such establishments, and often -the programme lasts till daybreak.</p> - -<p>I entered one of them and for a moment I seemed to have gone suddenly -back to Berlin. German officers in uniform, other German people talking -loudly in front of huge glasses of beer, and a little orchestra of -Tsiganes playing Viennese tunes made my illusion almost complete. -The waiters were,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> of course, German, and the so-called artists, of -uncertain nationality, sang only German and Turkish songs.</p> - -<p>A <i>gommeuse</i> risked a little Parisian refrain, but her voice was -drowned by the public hissing and shouting. The public began to sing -patriotic songs, and the girl only won her way back to public grace by -dancing a sort of furious cake-walk which seemed to please her audience -immensely.</p> - -<p>This number was followed by the great attraction of the programme—a -"revue," as it was pompously announced on the posters.</p> - -<p>The story of the play was highly symbolic; a young lady in feathers and -a three-coloured scarf (France) and her protector (Russia) tried to rob -a respectable gentleman and his wife (Germany and Austria).</p> - -<p>A struggle began, accompanied by lyric, which must have been highly -amusing and patriotic, as everybody clapped and laughed, while in the -background a Scotsman made a terrible noise, but kept away from the -fight. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> - -<p>An Alma, with a fez on her black wig, rose at this moment from a pile -of cushions among which she had been lying while indulging in a quiet -smoke. At the sight of her Russia dropped to the floor, France did -the same, England flew away into the wings, and the three victorious -nations danced a sort of jig on a special <i>pot-pourri</i> arranged from -the music of the three national anthems.</p> - -<p>This most idiotic pantomime was so highly appreciated that it was -completely repeated. At the conclusion the girl who played France -achieved a great personal success by coming out draped in the German -flag—to show that she was only impersonating France for stage -necessities, and that she was actually of true German feelings.</p> - -<p>The few Turks amongst the audience clapped enthusiastically, and, -in contravention of the Koran's laws, drank large glasses of beer, -probably in honour of their masters and protectors.</p> - -<p>Outside the night was full of stars, and at the eastern side of the -quiet Bosphorus a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> group of luminous spots showed the position of the -fleet going back into the Black Sea. One by one the lights disappeared, -hidden from sight by the thick woods of Therapia.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p class="right"><i>November 5th.</i></p> - -<p>The news that the Sultan is to review a large detachment of troops -leaving for the front, on the enormous drilling ground on the hill of -Pancaldi, fetches me out of bed very early this morning.</p> - -<p>When I reach the grounds a large convoy of troops tells me that the -Sultan must be coming. Numerous Zapties (Turkish <i>gendarmes</i>) are -pushing the crowd aside on the pavement. Now the Sultan arrives in a -closed coach preceded and followed by a number of other Zapties on -horseback.</p> - -<p>Everybody bows deeply, but the Sultan does not show himself. His -carriage drives between the double ranks of troops once only, and then -disappears under the large arch of the Artillery Barracks.</p> - -<p>The new Sultan is said to detest appearing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> in public. He has -abolished, for this reason, all the traditional ceremonies, all the -luxurious habits of the old Court, and lives quietly like a private -citizen in the Dolma-Bagtche-Serai. The wonderful palace of Abdul Hamid -on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus is much too imposing for his -simple taste. Mohamed the Fifth is neither loved nor hated; the Turkish -population simply ignores his existence.</p> - -<p>After the departure of the Sultan the troops get on with their drills. -There are about 10,000 infantrymen, fifty field guns, and not more than -a dozen pieces of Horse Artillery of a fairly old model. The field guns -are the famous ones bought from Krupp at the time of the Balkan War, -which arrived at Constantinople after the peace was concluded.</p> - -<p>At the back of the Artillery Barracks is a large Turkish cemetery in -which numerous tents have been erected to shelter the Asiatic troops -coming through Constantinople. A large and curious crowd watches the -dark-skinned, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>oily-haired soldiers cooking their own food or making, -with a sort of religious concentration, a drop of coffee in a copper -saucepan not larger than a small egg.</p> - -<p>Here is the German Embassy, where there is a great movement of Turkish -and German officers, and where a long line of motor-cars waits outside -the door. From the balcony over the main entrance hangs a picture of -the Kaiser and a large German flag. To the left side of the Embassy is -a powerful wireless station.</p> - -<p>This may be considered as the real War Office in Constantinople at the -present moment. Near the door, on a large blackboard, is exposed the -latest news from the theatres of war.</p> - -<p>Stringent police regulations allow nobody to pass near the wireless -station.</p> - -<p>I am just passing on, when a coach, similar to that one in which the -Sultan reviewed his troops, stops in front of the Embassy. A little man -in fez and morning coat alights. At the first glance I recognise him -as Enver<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> Pasha. This was the only glance of Turkey's great man that I -could get during my stay in Constantinople.</p> - -<p>I walked down the great road of Pera, generally full of tourists, -motor-cars, and carriages, where smart European society in -Constantinople meets.</p> - -<p>Since last Sunday half of the few shops and hotels which were still -open have closed. The war has completely spoiled the most flourishing -of Pera's industries.</p> - -<p>A large building on the left-hand side, over which the Red Cross flag -waves, attracts my attention. It is the German school turned into a -hospital, and placed under the direction of Princess Najieh, Enver -Pasha's wife. Only a few years ago it would have been impossible to -imagine a Turkish woman doing useful work, still less nursing soldiers; -but now old Turkey is dying.</p> - -<p>The German ladies in Constantinople have organised another large -emergency hospital in the Skating Rink a few hundred yards lower down -the same street. Over a hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> wounded have already arrived from the -Russian frontier, I am told. All the Red Cross materials have been -ready here for a long time, and doctors and nurses came from Berlin -three or four days before the declaration of war. A curious coincidence -that they should know exactly when their services would be required!</p> - -<p>Down the great route of Pera, near the Tunnel, the crowd is getting -thicker, a crowd, as usual, composed almost exclusively of German or -Germanophile elements. Here is the German Club, the famous centre of -the Pan-German movement in Constantinople.</p> - -<p>I easily mix with some of the impromptu politicians; all the Germans in -Constantinople who are too old to bear arms try to do what they can for -the Fatherland by carrying out a sort of advertising campaign. They can -fight no more, but they can talk.</p> - -<p>In a few minutes I learn that the Russians are "no good"; that the -British Fleet was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> "all bluff"; that the French soldiers are "running -away like rabbits," and other interesting revelations. But my fat -little man, who is, I learn, the manager of the German Bazaar near -Andria's Passage, begins really to attract my attention when he -describes what will happen on the day of final German victory.</p> - -<p>"Austria will probably be added to the German Empire, together with -Hungary, Russian Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each would have the -present system of the German confederation, by which every State has -a certain autonomy but only one Emperor, one administration, and one -army. It will be the largest Empire ever seen since Napoleon, but we -are certain, with our organising capabilities, to be able to make it -last a long time.</p> - -<p>"Take Turkey! She is certainly the most practical nation in Europe; she -has seen that it was no use trying to resist us, and she has accepted -our quiet superiority. We are the brains, and she is the hands, and you -can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> be certain that it will be all the better for her to have taken -this step in time."</p> - -<p>"And what will happen afterwards to Constantinople?"</p> - -<p>"Oh! we shall always be friends with the Turks. They know our -superiority, and they respect us. It is really of no importance for us -to have Constantinople as long as we know that Russia will never be -able to have it."</p> - -<p>While my companion is telling me the modest German aspirations and the -future plans for the wholesale Germanisation of the world, we have -walked slowly across the Perchembe-Bazaar (Thursday's market). It is -market day, but the business is next to nothing. Most of the merchants -have not come at all, others are sitting philosophically amongst -mountains of carpets, embroideries, and potteries, waiting for the -customer who does not come.</p> - -<p>The Turkish commerce has such deep roots that it did not stop even -three years ago, when the Allied troops were a few miles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> from the -town. Now it is completely paralysed.</p> - -<p>Perhaps even the Turks begin to feel that the crisis is, this time, -bigger than ever before.</p> - -<p>Always chatting, we reach St. Peter's Church, and my attention is -attracted by a white marble tablet, on which I read: "André Chénier -naquit dans cette maison le 30 Octobre, 1762." Under it, on the brown -painted wall, one of his verses is written with chalk by a hand -evidently used to German characters:—</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="center">"Ces Anglais,</div> -<div>Nation tout à vendre à qui peut la payer."</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p class="center">(England, the nation that always sells herself to the best bidder.)</p> - -<p>I wonder who is the learned German who knows Chénier's work well enough -to get out of it just the line which, in his opinion, suits the present -situation?</p> - -<p>I show the stone tablet to my companion, and he explains, very proud to -show me that he knows all about the poet of Charlotte.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> "Oh, yes, he -was a great Frenchman, and, of course, they have had him hanged."</p> - -<p>I don't insist on the fact that the poet-encyclopædist was not hanged, -but beheaded, and he goes on, "France could be really a great nation. -She has genius, she has initiative, but she does not know how to -organise her moral and material means, so as to get the maximum effort -out of them."</p> - -<p>I feel that he is going to describe to me what a wonderful nation -France would be under a German Government, so I leave him to his dreams -of megalomania. Let us hope he will wake up soon!</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER IV</span> <span class="smaller">BULGARIA AND GREECE</span></h2> - -<p>Thanks to the kindness of a member of the Chilian Embassy, I managed to -get out of Constantinople in his car without having to wait my turn. -The booking-office at the Adrianople station was besieged by a crowd -impatient to leave the town, and a sleepy-looking clerk wrote down the -names, received the money for the tickets, and told the unfortunate -travellers to call in a couple of days, when he would perhaps be able -to let them know by which train they might leave. Some took the thing -philosophically, some tried to protest; but nobody, unless of Turkish -or German nationality, was allowed to travel by military trains. No -cars or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> vehicles of any kind were allowed on the road unless carrying -officials.</p> - -<p>We went across the theatre of Turkey's last war. At Tchataldja the -almost tropical vegetation has not yet returned to efface, or even to -disguise, the trenches, which were the last defence of Constantinople.</p> - -<p>"Here Turkey had her last close shave," laughingly said my driver. -"The next one will be more severe, I am afraid; for me, I should not -be surprised to see the Russians, or the English, or even both, here -before next summer." At Pavlo-Keni I left my courteous guide.</p> - -<p>After waiting a few hours in a dirty inn full of soldiers, of -pipe-smoke, and of the onion-like smell of Turkish cooking, I managed -to get a train to Dedeagatch. There another unpleasant surprise awaited -me. Bulgaria had two days ago closed her ports and no boat was allowed -to sail.</p> - -<p>Dedeagatch, the curious little town in which it seems impossible to -meet two people of the same nationality, so mixed are the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> races, the -costumes, the languages, does not show any signs of its recent change -of proprietorship. Dirt and dogs and rags are everywhere, as in a true -Turkish town.</p> - -<p>I remember an old journalist of wide Balkan experience and of great -wit, Vico Mantegazza, telling me two years ago: "You ask a Bulgarian -for his political ideas or the designs of his country's diplomacy, then -reverse his answer, and you will be just as near the truth as you will -ever get!"</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, every Bulgarian I have had occasion to talk to, -lately, has told me a different tale. To some the enemy is Greece; -to others Serbia. At a few minutes' interval I was told, first, by -an officer, that Bulgaria wanted another fight with Turkey, "her -traditional enemy"—and then that Bulgaria's relations with Turkey had -been excellent since the last war, and would probably continue so for a -long time.</p> - -<p>The impression I received here was that the Austro-German influence is -very strong; Bulgaria is ruled by a German, the German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> language is -spoken and understood everywhere, and business life as well as private -life is strictly connected with Germany. I do not know if the charge -of ingratitude generally made against Bulgaria is true, but it seems -that the country has forgotten the times of the dreadful, century-long -Turkish domination and the help Russia always gave to Bulgaria, who -owes to the great Slav nation both her birth as an independent State -and her existence after the last war.</p> - -<p>The immoderate ambitions of the Bulgarian Government, ambitions of -increasing her territory and of becoming <i>the</i> great nation of the -Balkans, has made her forget all this. It is certain that no mystery -is made in Bulgaria of her bitter feelings against Russia, feelings -reciprocated by Petrograd papers, which call the Bulgarians "the Balkan -Germans."</p> - -<p>The personal influence of King Ferdinand has been very strong; he has -Germanised his capital and most of the important towns of his nation, -and has tried to attenuate as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> much as possible the natural intercourse -of Bulgaria with the other Slav countries.</p> - -<p>The unnatural relations between Bulgaria and Serbia are a continuous -danger to the Entente. Bulgaria is certainly going to keep neutral for -some time, but supposing Serbia should one day suffer reverses on the -Austrian frontier, who could be sure of Bulgaria's attitude?</p> - -<p>The infatuation for the German-Austrian power is such that one often -hears sentences like this: "Germany and Austria united cannot be beaten -by any nation on earth."</p> - -<p>News here is practically all of the "made in Germany" type. At -Dedeagatch, besides a few Bulgarian papers, the only foreign papers -I could get were those of Berlin and Vienna. The successes of the -Serbians in the north do not please the Bulgarians; every day there are -incidents on both the Bulgarian and Greek frontiers.</p> - -<p>The day before I reached Dedeagatch two Bulgarian sentries had been -killed in a fight with Serbian sentries. Of course, such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> incidents, -which would lead to unavoidable international complications if they -happened on the frontier of a great European country, are here -considered as merely incidents, and one cannot base on them hurried -judgments and deductions.</p> - -<p>Regarding Great Britain, she has the sympathies of the Bulgarian -diplomacy, which is naturally inclined towards the nations who, like -England, protected the small Balkan States; but, I repeat, one feels -that Bulgaria will shake off her neutrality only when she sees the -chance of immediate gain in doing so, and in no case before having -waited a long time; time enough to see "how the cat jumps."</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>I have found him.</p> - -<p>I am not sorry for the uncomfortable journey; I am not sorry for the -days wasted, nor for having missed, for a few hours only, the weekly -boat from Salonika to Athens; for it was in a little town called -Drama,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> where I had to stop an hour or so, that I met the wonderful man.</p> - -<p>I bless a thousand times the hours of unspeakable boredom, the many -punishments for unlearned lessons, the terrific anxiety for the -examinations which worried my school days while learning the Greek -language, for it was in Tessalian dialect, which, luckily, is more -similar to old Greek than modern Greek itself, that my precious man -spoke. His existence has been denied by most. He has no equal in -England, I am sure, nor in Germany, nor in France, probably not one -in all Europe. He is more difficult to find than the white fly or the -black diamond of the old Oriental legends. If I had not been afraid of -trouble with the British police when I got back to England, I should -dare to write candidly that I am glad of Turkey's declaration of war -because, without it, I should never have gone to Drama and never have -met him.</p> - -<p>"<i>Him</i>" is the man who has never heard of the war. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> - -<p>His look is like the look of any man a little over middle age; his -condition is corresponding to the condition of an English gentleman -farmer; his education is certainly far superior to the education of an -ordinary middle-class man. He knows and still reads daily a few pages -of his favourite classic works Homer, Anacreon, Hesiod. He does not -read newspapers.</p> - -<p>I didn't realise my luck until we had talked a quarter of an hour—at -least, struggled hard to do so.</p> - -<p>"And what do you think of the war?" I asked him at a certain moment.</p> - -<p>"The war! Which war?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, the big war; the war between England, France, Russia, and Serbia -on one side and Germany and——"</p> - -<p>"Is there such a war? But why? What for?"</p> - -<p>Then it was my turn to be perplexed. The "Why?" was already a difficult -question, which would have required half an hour to be answered -properly; as for the "What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> for?" I had absolutely no reason to give -the old man. Who knows exactly what for? However, I tried to condense -my answer in a word. "Jealousy, you know," I said after a moment.</p> - -<p>"Jealousy! Just like at the time of Helen of Troy!" commented my -learned partner.</p> - -<p>"Yes, just about it."</p> - -<p>"I didn't think people could still be such fools! When we last heard of -war here it was two years ago. Well, the Turks have gone, the Greeks -have come, and things are exactly like they were before, only we have -to pay more taxes. I suppose the same will happen over there."</p> - -<p>"I am afraid so, too."</p> - -<p>"And who is winning? How long is it going to last? What will be the -result?"</p> - -<p>"I really cannot tell you all this," I had to admit.</p> - -<p>"You don't seem to know much more about it than I do," he said in -conclusion, and, after a few seconds, in a relieved tone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> of voice, -which clearly meant "Let us go back to an interesting subject:—"</p> - -<p>"Have you ever read Æschylus's <i>Persians</i>?"</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>I had decided to take the boat at Salonika for Athens, so I took the -train from Dedeagatch to Salonika. A three hours' stop near Porto Lagos -made me realise that it was impossible to reach Salonika in time, so I -got out of the train at Drama,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and from there, on a dreadful little -two-wheeler, a sort of Irish jaunting-car pulled by a horse as thin as -a horse can possibly be, I made my way to Kavala, just in time to catch -the boat which was to take me back to the civilised world.</p> - -<p>I shall never forget my ride to Kavala. I promised a generous tip to -the <i>auriga</i> provided he went at full speed. The little horse, under -the whip used incessantly by the young man, seemed converted into one -of the fantastic animals of the French <i>chansons de</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> <i>geste</i>. With neck -outstretched, the long mane loose to the wind, he took to a furious -gallop, nor did he stop until we reached our destination. The road, if -road it can be called, was full of stones and deep cart-ruts, now muddy -and now dusty, uneven, and terribly steep. We were crossing the land on -which the battle of Philippi was fought. Even now the country retained -a sort of tragic look. Not a single house, not a single tree; nothing -but stones and bare soil. The sun was hiding slowly behind the hills of -Sérès. The great battlefield appeared to me under a sky covered with -black clouds edged with scarlet on a sunset of deep orange. And yet -this battlefield, the memory of which has lasted so strongly after two -thousand years, has swallowed less life than any of the battles of the -present war!</p> - -<p>I believe optimists call this human progress....</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>Travelling on the boat was really leisure; the waters at the side ran -so slow that often<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> they gave the impression that we were not moving at -all.</p> - -<p>The <i>Stagyra</i> was a little cargo boat of Roumanian nationality. I was -the only passenger on board, and the crew spoke only Roumanian and a -few words of Levantine, picked up during their continuous trips to Asia -Minor. The captain fancied himself as a French scholar, but it was very -hard to understand him, and still more to be understood.</p> - -<p>We left Kavala at night, and should not reach Pireus for nearly two -days.</p> - -<p>We passed the Isle of Athos and its twenty white convents, inhabited by -over a thousand monks. A number of Greeks, who were forced to escape -from Turkey, have found asylum in the large dormitories generally -offered by the convents to visitors to the Peninsula. A little plume of -grey smoke appeared on the horizon, and a few minutes later I could see -through the captain's glasses a Greek torpedo-boat, which signalled us -to stop. An officer, with a dozen blue-jackets,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> came on board, looked -at the cargo, at the board books, at my passport, and when he saw I -came from Constantinople said in excellent French, "Hope we are going -against them soon. It is about time to finish the Turks, in Europe at -least. I consider the Turkish intervention fortunate. We can now settle -the Constantinople question together with all the others. If Turkey had -not moved another war would have been necessary afterwards."</p> - -<p>He left our boat, and the Greek torpedo-boat signalled to a few other -Greek warships, which we could see in the distance, that everything was -all right and that we could go ahead.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>I happened never to have visited Athens when Greece was at war, and I -really don't know what the town must have looked like then, since now -while she is still neutral the capital shows such excitement, such -anxious feelings, and such general nervousness—far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> greater than that -shown by London, Paris, or Berlin.</p> - -<p>Greece feels that she has to go to war again; the two questions of -Northern Epirus and of the islands are still waiting solution, and the -provocation of Turkey is such that war is bound to break out.</p> - -<p>Athens, as well as most towns of Greece, is full of refugees, -especially from Asia Minor. Boycott, requisition, confiscation, -and forcible recruiting have made it necessary for nearly all the -Greeks, who are the only Christians in the Peninsula, to fly to -their Motherland. Their property has been taken by the Turks and -often destroyed. Some of the refugees tell the most dreadful tales -of abominable cruelty and violence. Torture and death are daily -inflicted on Greek subjects by the Mahomedan mob excited by the Turkish -officials, who allow all such crimes to be committed with impunity.</p> - -<p>The patience of Greece is nearly exhausted, and especially in the -army the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>feeling that something must be done as soon as possible is -increasing every day.</p> - -<p>Curiously enough, while Turkey seems to be carrying out a regular -programme of provocation towards Greece, every time Turkey goes too far -and Greece is feared to be about to take up arms, Austria and Germany -try to stop her by forcing Turkey to apologise humbly.</p> - -<p>Since the war began, a wonderfully organised German propaganda has been -set in motion, not in Athens only, but in all Greek towns. Germany -purposed by so doing to capture Greek public opinion, and also the -sympathies of the countries in which the Greek element is predominant, -namely, some parts of Turkey and Egypt. The Wolff Agency overwhelms -Greece with <i>communiqués</i>, news guaranteed to be true, and despatches -from Berlin; a tremendous number of German professors, who have spent -years and years in Greece, studying and searching every inch of Greek -soil, wrote from the Fatherland to all their friends and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> acquaintances -the most fetching letters, and, lately, news in Greek was printed in -Berlin and sent free of charge to every influential person in Greece. -The <i>Philadelphia</i>, the German club in the rue d'Homère, has become the -centre of such propaganda, and every night there are lectures, kinema -shows, etc., to which, as the posters say, "everybody is cordially -invited."</p> - -<p>I went out of curiosity to one of these lectures; the audience was not -very large, and was mostly composed of Germans. "You know what would -happen should the Entente win; which, of course, is almost impossible. -Russia would reach the Ægean Sea, the Slavs would be ultra-powerful in -the Adriatic, and Greece would never have a chance of fulfilling her -aspirations.</p> - -<p>"And about England—has Greece forgotten the quarrels with Palmerston -and Disraeli?"</p> - -<p>The German propaganda is specially conducted against England, France's -interests in the Near East being of little importance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> and German -people being very annoyed at the very friendly feeling held by Greece -towards Great Britain.</p> - -<p>I don't know, for instance, what the numerous German agents felt like -at seeing in Athens the most popular of picture-postcards, on which a -sentence from a book of Rhaïdes has been reprinted: "Whatever may be -the adventures of war, England is always certain to win one battle; -namely, the last one."</p> - -<p>The confidence of Greece in Great Britain is almost unlimited, and the -efforts of Germany to diminish it leads to the opposite result.</p> - -<p>During the last year the Greek Army has made enormous progress; the -new populations recently annexed have given to Greece an excellent -supply of men, out of whom capable and well-trained officers have made -some really efficient troops. Cavalry and artillery have also been -increased, and new guns have been purchased at Krupps and Creuzot. The -same can be said of the Navy, though two new Dreadnoughts, which were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> -being constructed in Germany and France, are not likely to be delivered -now.</p> - -<p>The aerial services are also being reorganised, and recently some new -aeroplanes were bought in Italy, and it is said that shortly Greece -will also have some large modern dirigibles.</p> - -<p>The merit of such important reforms belongs especially to King -Constantine himself, who remained Commander-in-Chief of the Army even -after his assumption of the throne. He understood that the next war -would be the decisive one for Greece, and with wonderful activity he -has managed to bring his country to the height of the situation.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p class="right"><i>On board the Stagyra.</i></p> - -<p>It is really most refreshing, after having visited a country like -Turkey, to spend a few hours in Athens. Everything here seems young -and fresh and full of vitality. It seems as though the spirit of the -golden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> times of old Greece has suddenly returned after a long period -of torpor.</p> - -<p>The <i>Stagyra</i> has just left harbour, and is now sailing in the Ionian -Sea.</p> - -<p>A French cruiser has just approached our boat, and has told us to be -careful, as floating mines have often been found in this locality -during the last few weeks, and now makes her way at our side. Only -yesterday, I am told, a Corfu sailing boat had been sunk by a mine, and -only two of the crew were saved.</p> - -<p>I have been on deck as much as possible because of the scenery, and -also because of the fearful smell downstairs. The Roumanian captain is -at my side and keeps telling me his worries; this is probably the last -journey of the <i>Stagyra</i>, as he has no hope of being able to go back to -Constanza now the Straits are closed and there is war in the Black Sea.</p> - -<p>"And what are you going to do, now, when you have reached Marseilles, -if you can't go back to your country?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> - -<p>"My men and I have already decided to enlist in France. We are all -well-trained and very good shots."</p> - -<p>He answered as if this was the most natural thing to do.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>It is just daybreak, and we are going through the Strait of Messina. -At our side, instead of the French cruiser, which has left us upon our -entering Italian territorial waters, is now the imposing mass of an -Italian warship, the <i>Vittor Pisani</i>, anchored in the bay.</p> - -<p>On the Sicilian coast Messina smiles, surrounded by woods of oranges -loaded with golden fruit. After the terrible catastrophe of four -years ago, the former monumental town has assumed the quiet, modest, -village-like look of a Japanese seaport.</p> - -<p>How far removed we are from those moments when the brute forces of -Nature made all nations on earth meet here to relieve the sorrow of the -stricken country in the noblest of competitions, and gave the world<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> -the momentary illusion of a wide sense of brotherhood amongst all -peoples.</p> - -<p>Still, even now, by the side of the Union Jack which floats over the -English relief-fund building, the tricolour of Germany waves to the -morning breeze.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Where I had the fortune to come across the man who had -never heard of the war.</p></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER V</span> <span class="smaller">MY SECOND WAR-TIME VISIT TO BERLIN</span></h2> - -<p class="right"><i>December 22.</i></p> - -<p>I am just back from my second war-time trip to Berlin. It is about ten -weeks since I was last in the German capital, and during the interval a -big change has come over the city.</p> - -<p>Less cheering, less flag-waving, less enthusiasm; the Berliners still -tell you that everything is going on all right, the papers are still -very optimistic, the short official bulletins keep very dark any bad -news and magnify what is good, but the atmosphere is different and one -feels the change in almost everything.</p> - -<p>I arrived in Berlin on the day the German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> Pacific Squadron was sunk by -British ships. Since the sinking of the <i>Emden</i> nobody in Germany dared -hope for any better destiny for the other ships on the high seas. They -realised that all they could expect was to cause as large a loss of -life as possible on the English vessels before going to their fate.</p> - -<p>The news of the affair off the Falkland Islands greatly impressed -Berlin.</p> - -<p>It had not been expected that the British naval authorities would act -so quickly and at one blow demolish a force whose destructiveness had -given the people to hope that a longer life was in store for it.</p> - -<p>A remarkable thing is that, though Berlin got to know of the -destruction of the four ships only through English sources, the Berlin -papers printed it before it was published in London.</p> - -<p>The <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> gave the news in a few lines as sent by a -special correspondent in London. It was only last Tuesday, when I -saw the English papers in Switzerland, that I realised that the -<i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> able to print the news in Berlin before the -Press Bureau had given it out in London.</p> - -<p>In this case the fact has no importance, but does it not show that -Germany has still a wonderful information service and telegraph wire or -wireless communication with London?</p> - -<p>Since last Sunday it was known in Berlin that some sort of raid was -to be attempted on the eastern shores of Britain, and that this first -appearance of the German fleet would be followed by numerous other -visits in different parts of the English, Scotch, and Irish coasts.</p> - -<p>Then one fine day Germany might attempt to disembark a few thousand -men, who, of course, would be killed or taken prisoners, but it is -thought in Berlin that such a landing will stop England sending troops -to the Continent and probably force her to recall some of the troops -she has already sent there.</p> - -<p>My informant said that the Germans would probably make their first -appearance on the British coast very soon and that afterwards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> a -regular programme of raids, both by sea and by air, was to be carried -out.</p> - -<p>I am sorry I was not in Berlin when the news of the bombardment of -Scarborough was served out to the good Berlin people. The papers will -no doubt have magnified its effects to cheer up the population, which -seems to need it badly.</p> - -<p>Most people there seem very keen on bringing the war to English -territory, and if this was not done before it was only because it -was feared that such a raid would act as a tonic on recruiting, or -even give the last blow to England's traditional form of voluntary -recruiting.</p> - -<p>Now, however, the desire to attack British shores has become more -and more pronounced, as the continuously increasing figures of Lord -Kitchener's Army, regularly sent to Germany by her informers, have -dispelled the illusion that the mass of British people were indifferent -to the war.</p> - -<p>Though ignorant people seemed to believe in a probable German invasion -of one or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> another part of England, in military circles in Germany it -is realised that it is absolutely impossible, and the raids which will -take place on the British coast are only meant to plunge the population -into panic and to force the British Government to keep troops in -England instead of sending them to the Continent.</p> - -<p>The feelings of the capital are very complex; disillusion caused by -the campaign in France lasting so long without any apparent progress, -sorrow for the enormous number of lives lost, hate for every nation on -earth save Turkey, and especially for Great Britain.</p> - -<p>At first everybody was absolutely certain that the German Army would -take all things by storm, that its superiority was sufficient to smash -any resistance in a few weeks. Now, however, the Berlin people are -beginning to realise that they have been deceived in this respect.</p> - -<p>I don't mean to say that Berlin's people, at least the people in the -street, realise that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> things are going badly nor that they are giving -up hope—that would not be true. They still believe in a final victory -for Germany, but they don't seem to be as certain as they were before. -They are getting rather tired of the length of the war.</p> - -<p>I can confirm everything that has been written about the hate of -England. England is called the "jealous, cowardly country," and all -sorts of insulting names, unjustified either by historical or political -precedents. What is absolutely certain is that Russia and France are -not hated half as much as the English are.</p> - -<p>Curiously enough, this hate, which is very moderate in the military -class, and not too strong among commercial and industrial people, who -have always considered Great Britain as one of their best customers -and who are longing to start trading with her again when the war is -over, reaches the highest possible degree of violence amongst the upper -classes, the sedentary men of the laboratories, the "Professoren," -pride and, in former times, amusement of Germany herself. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> - -<p>"We have been very humane up to now; we have not killed half the men we -could; we have not destroyed half the towns it would have been easy for -us to destroy," said to me a quiet-looking little man with gold-rimmed -spectacles and a white beard, who has for years occupied a high -position at the foreign office, "but if we ever manage to reach England -in force we shall respect nothing. We shall fully justify that name of -Hun which British papers seem so fond of giving us."</p> - -<p>This official, who belongs to a class of people who should really know -how things are, is so blinded by hate for England that he cannot even -detect the monstrosity of this statement.</p> - -<p>I always thought the spy mania in England exaggerated, but now I am -absolutely persuaded that even those Englishmen who recognise this -peril do not realise the lengths to which it goes.</p> - -<p>They have been suspecting waiters and servants, while the spies are in -high social positions; they have contented themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> with searching -the houses of German barbers and grocers whilst neglecting the heads -who collect and forward to Berlin the information gathered by more -humble satellites.</p> - -<p>It is very sad to have to say such things, but I think the most -dangerous spies still in England are not Germans, whether naturalised -or not, but are people belonging to neutral countries—even to -countries actually fighting Germany—and subjects of Great Britain -herself.</p> - -<p>I would not have written this if I was not sure of it; the diplomat -from whom I got the information assured me that there are some English -and French of both sexes who come regularly to Berlin or to frontier -towns through neutral countries and have conversations with officials -and then return.</p> - -<p>The restrictions as to luggage and passports, both in France and in -England, are not half as severe as they should be; they are even -slacker than at the beginning of the war. I know personally of a number -of stolen American passports under the shelter of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> which German spies -are now travelling, and an Italian Consul with whom I happened to -travel a few days ago said he had discovered two fellows with false -Italian passports almost perfectly imitated.</p> - -<p>In Berlin I heard people, well-informed people, saying that in every -English town of importance, on every spot of strategical value on the -British coast, Germany has got <i>a few friends</i> keeping their eyes open -and ready to receive an eventual German raid and to lend their friends -as strong a hand as possible.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>The first morning I woke up in Berlin I could not help feeling a -bit nervous. The small hotel I had chosen in the Tiergarten was a -few minutes away from the Kaiserhof theatre of my rather unpleasant -adventures during my first war-time visit to Berlin.</p> - -<p>I knew that some quotations from my newspaper articles had appeared in -the German papers, and I was certain that the police, who, in Berlin, -are wonderfully well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> organised, had managed to identify the man who -had written them with the man who had awakened their vigilance a week -before the articles appeared.</p> - -<p>It was true that this time I had entered Germany through Switzerland, -and that they would never think that a British newspaper correspondent -would take the trouble to go all that way round. I could not help -realising, however, how awkward my position would be if I were to meet -face to face in a Berlin street one of the men who had arrested me two -months before.</p> - -<p>The little dreary devil who hides himself at the bottom of every human -being's mind impelled me to go straight down the Leipziger-place to -Wilhelmstrasse, and from there to the Linden, the very parts of Berlin -where danger for me was greatest.</p> - -<p>I was impressed by one great change at once; two months ago the streets -were full of soldiers idling about amongst the slow-moving crowd. Now I -had to walk half-an-hour before I met a single military uniform,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> and -that was worn by a wounded soldier. Evidently the contingent of troops -which had been kept waiting in Berlin had been poured on to the Russian -frontier.</p> - -<p>As a protest against French and English fashions, the German -dressmakers are trying to make German ladies adopt all-German fashions; -the shop windows are full of dummies dressed in impossible clothes of -stiff, cheap-looking materials. The ladies' hats are in the flat, round -shape of the Bavarian peasant woman.</p> - -<p>Some of the shops show what they call evening gowns, and touch the -extreme of bad taste with curious creations of a half-religious, -half-pantomime-like character. But I have never seen anyone wearing -these horrors.</p> - -<p>Horse vehicles were much scarcer. When the war broke out Germany -thought she could get any amount of horses out of Norway, Sweden, -Denmark, and Holland, but these nations could only send a few -thousand animals, and Germany was in a terrible plight, as she needed -immediately about twenty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> thousand. Then she tried to get horses from -Austria and Hungary, but owing to the food and the bad quality of the -water the greater part of these animals fell sick or died. Lastly, -Germany had to take for military purposes all the horses she could find -in Germany and Belgium—even those which had formerly been judged unfit -for military service.</p> - -<p>Taxi-cabs have reappeared in fairly large numbers.</p> - -<p>The shortage of petrol, arising from the Russian occupation of Galicia, -has been a very severe blow for Germany, especially when one considers -that the enormous special reservoirs constructed in all the German -ports for the storage of large quantities of the precious liquid were -expecting large supplies when the war broke out—supplies which were -never delivered.</p> - -<p>All the petrol left in the country was seized by the Government for -the use of military motor-cars, aeroplanes, and Zeppelins. Lately the -rather serious situation was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> cleverly dealt with by extracting from -coal in a new, cheap and quick way a liquid called benzol, which is a -fairly good substitute for petrol, but which smells horribly when used -and requires a lot of work to keep the engines clean.</p> - -<p>The coal from which benzol has been extracted is converted into coke, -and now German railways, works, and private householders are using -solely this kind of fuel. The supply of coal is not plentiful, but up -to now sufficient, thanks to the strict economy observed by the German -people.</p> - -<p>Berlin street illumination has been very much reduced on this account, -while in some other German towns it has been completely suppressed.</p> - -<p>The number of temporary hospitals has increased enormously. I counted -more than thirty houses in Unter den Linden alone over which the Red -Cross flag flew. These house hospitals depend partly on the large -hospitals for support, and are partly kept up by private charity. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> - -<p>As most of the trained nurses are at the front, there is generally only -an old nurse as matron, and under her command a number of ladies do all -the work without the help of servants. The large hospitals have no more -room for new beds. Doctors are very scarce, and those left seem to be -working very hard.</p> - -<p>Owing to the German habit of keeping ambulances right in the firing -line the losses amongst doctors have been enormous, and fresh ones are -continually required for active service.</p> - -<p>I had occasion to talk to a doctor who was just back from the front for -the purpose of organising a new Red Cross column for work in Poland.</p> - -<p>"We try to operate as little as possible," he said. "During the last -two months we have not made a single amputation, as we believe that it -is a crime to take even a finger from a man if it is not absolutely -indispensable to do so.</p> - -<p>"The wounded are in enormous numbers, most of them suffering from -wounds caused<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> by their being struck by shrapnel or scraps of shell. It -is almost impossible to deal with such cases immediately, and we send -them back, after temporarily bandaging them, to Germany. During the -last fights on the Yser and near Ypres even the rifle wounds were often -infected.</p> - -<p>"The wounded had to lie for hours, and often for days, in the trenches -or on the battlefield before they could be removed.</p> - -<p>"The downpour of shrapnel bullets from the artillery gave us no time -to take the wounded to the nearest Red Cross department. In such -conditions cases of lock-jaw are fairly common, but luckily up to the -time I left the front there were no cases of infectious disease."</p> - -<p>"It has been said there have been some cases of cholera in your army?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, we had a few cases, not amongst German troops, but amongst the -Austrians who are fighting with us in Belgium. We have organised a few -large special hospitals for such diseases, as we expect that we shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> -have more infectious cases when the winter is over."</p> - -<p>"Do you have many English, French, and Russian wounded in your -hospitals?"</p> - -<p>"Not many. We don't keep them in the same hospitals with our -own soldiers. Generally we send them down straight away to the -concentration camps, where there are always infirmaries, and in these -they are cured."</p> - -<p>I don't know if the impression of dullness I got from this visit to -Berlin is due solely to what I have seen and heard or whether it is -partly due to the weather. During the five days I was there it rained -without interruption. The town was completely washed by heavy showers, -which hardly ever stopped.</p> - -<p>In such weather the only thing to do was to sit and talk. In the -numerous cafés women and old men were constantly talking and reading -newspapers and letters from the front to each other and discussing the -next German move. Apparently the wish of the whole of Germany is now -the capture of Warsaw; they give to the Russian theatre of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> operations -an importance which was formerly reserved for the western theatre. They -consider the war in Flanders as a sort of siege war, refuse to believe -in an offensive movement of the Allies there, and want to go for Russia -before it is too late.</p> - -<p>Berlin seems to need a sort of formula, something to shout out, an -immediate object to achieve; but the newspapers engaged in supplying a -popular cry seem to be rather unhappy in their choice. At the beginning -of the war the cry was "To Paris"; later on "To Calais" seemed to -satisfy German public opinions; now everybody shouts "To Warsaw."</p> - -<p>The fact that the two former wishes were not fulfilled does not seem to -matter much. Not only that, but every good man in the street will tell -you that the march to Paris and the march on Calais are only postponed.</p> - -<p>The almost unlimited confidence of German people in their army has -certainly been shaken during the last few months, and though nobody -will frankly admit that things<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> are going badly, I have observed a -difference between the way they used to talk and the way they talk now.</p> - -<p>I do not want to be misunderstood; if a Berliner is asked directly, "Do -you think you are going to win?" the answer will come pat, "Yes, we -are certain of it." But if you go on talking you will detect from the -way in which the man tries to avoid certain subjects, and how he sighs -when some others—namely, the Navy and the Crown Prince—come into the -discussion, that the beautiful assurance of former days is gone, and -that some small cracks in the war organisation begin to be evident -even to his eyes. He begins to doubt the prestige of the German army, -the destiny of the German race, and the perfection of the military -organisation of his country. It is not a question of colour, but of -shade, and it is evident that something has changed.</p> - -<p>As for the officers, the men of the upper classes, and the people who -have realised since the beginning of the war how hard was the task -Germany had undertaken, they go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> ahead in their military, diplomatic, -or simply private work, not daring to look too far. They prefer to die, -to disappear before the downfall of their country. It is impossible not -to admire them. Most of the officers of Bavarian or Silesian descent -are fighting for those who have formerly been their oppressors, and -for the supremacy of that Prussia which has killed the independence of -their country.</p> - -<p>Yet they are sacrificing themselves in a war about the final result of -which very few entertain illusions.</p> - -<p>The officers and non-commissioned officers who were injured at the -beginning of the campaign, and who are so mutilated that they would -be of no use at the front, are drilling the new recruits, or making -themselves as useful as they can. But practically none have left the -army or even taken a temporary leave.</p> - -<p>A friend of mine whom I visited in hospital ten weeks ago has now -had his foot amputated. But his spirit is not crushed, and he is now -drilling recruits at a fortress near Stettin. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> - -<p>Everybody feels Germany cannot waste a single man. Most young men who -had been refused for physical imperfections in former years have now -been accepted. The fact that most classes of the Landsturm have not -been called up yet does not mean that there is no need for them, but -only that they are composed of men who, on account of their age and -lack of experience and fitness would be of no practical efficiency on -the battlefield.</p> - -<p>I saw in Berlin some sturdy, strong-looking chaps who looked quite fit -to bear arms still in mufti and attending to their usual professions. I -asked an officer the reason of this astonishing fact.</p> - -<p>"Don't you believe it," he answered me smiling; "such fellows follow -an employment which must be covered even in wartime, namely, a job -in one of the war-office departments, or else they are not as fit as -they look and for some reason or other would be of no use to the army. -Besides that, all fit men are as keen on serving in the army as we are -in taking them up." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> - -<p>To one who knows how reserved and silent German people generally are, -at least with foreigners, about their Government, their diplomacy, and -especially about the sacred person of their Emperor, the free way in -which they discuss them now is really astounding.</p> - -<p>"Our army has been a success," said the same officer to me when asked -what he thought of the conduct of the war, "but our diplomacy has -proved <i>un ratage complet</i>; everything has been arranged clumsily -before the war broke out, and managed still more clumsily since then. -Our diplomats seem busy making mistake after mistake; we have lost the -sympathies of all countries on earth, even of those who were formerly -our friends. If we are to have peace on favourable conditions, our arms -must win it on the battlefield, because our diplomacy will not be able -to. After Algeciras our diplomacy seems to have lost completely even -the bluff qualities which marked her last success." </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Kaiser now begins to be discussed, and I heard more than once this -definition of His Imperial Majesty: "A man good enough in peace-time, -but hardly capable of bearing the responsibilities or of carrying out -alone and successfully the task he has lately undertaken."</p> - -<p>The English cartoonists show us every German soldier weighed down by a -large iron cross hanging from his neck; in real life the thing is just -as bad as in caricature. One often sees groups of fifteen or twenty men -every one of whom shows the large square piece of blackened tin hanging -from the third button-hole of his grey-green uniform. It is as though -the iron cross, instead of being a decoration, was an indispensable -accessory of the uniform.</p> - -<p>I have seen two battalions of the new recruits coming back from drill -to their barracks on the Spree; some of the soldiers did not look -more than sixteen, they were headed by a very old captain of the -Landsturm and accompanied by a few officers—all old men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> (I have seen -a lieutenant who was probably sixty-five).</p> - -<p>Those who were not aged were suffering from recent wounds. A lieutenant -who had evidently been struck by a bullet in the knee, limped painfully -at their side, leaning on a stick, his right sleeve hanging empty from -his shoulder. He was the only one in the column who smiled cheerfully, -and the crowd in the streets looked at him with admiration, while some -old men raised their hats.</p> - -<p>A curious crowd indeed, this of Berlin. Women and children composed a -very large part of it, and the number of people in mourning was really -astonishing, far more than I saw in Paris or Vienna. Some people were -wearing a white and red armlet or a band crosswise with the number of -the regiment to which the man who died used to belong. An old lady was -wearing the band with the number of a regiment repeated three times on -it. She had lost three sons who were all in the same regiment. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> - -<p>The proprietress of the hotel at which I was staying had lost a son in -France and another was lying wounded in a hospital in Belgium.</p> - -<p>"The one who died," she said, "had been in England for over four years, -and was here taking a holiday when the war broke out. He always used to -say that he liked England better than his own country, and yet he had -to go. He was killed by an English bullet."</p> - -<p>Her story was interrupted by an unrestrained sob, and she went on: -"The one in Belgium is very, very bad, and they say that (even should -he live) he will be blind for life. I have got two more sons fighting -down there. God knows if they will ever come back," concluded the poor -woman, crying hopelessly.</p> - -<p>The mothers, whether they be English or German, whether they sit in a -factory or work in a mill, are always the first to bear the privations -of war. Yet in Germany they are bearing these privations nobly indeed. -The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> courage of their women is an example to the world.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>The few police agents still to be seen in the streets of Berlin are -standing outside military and public buildings. They are old men -already out of service, called back as substitutes for the policemen, -who were all converted into soldiers and sent to the front. Naturally -the police service, which was one of the best in the world, has lost -most of its efficiency—luckily for me perhaps!</p> - -<p>In the Tiergarten large posters hang on the trees, saying that owing to -the mobilisation of the police force for active service, the lovers of -romantic walks at night (one of Berlin's favourite pastimes) will have -to look after themselves, and that the corporation has not enough men -to carry on a service of police after midnight.</p> - -<p>The first effect of this is the enormous number of beggars in Berlin -streets—women and children, and old and crippled men—standing at -the street corners, or sitting in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> long rows on the outer steps of -churches, and telling long tales of husbands, fathers, sons at the war, -of miseries of every kind. Even about this, the Berlin Corporation, -always fond of giving tips to the public, has issued another -proclamation, which reads:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Don't give anything to people in the streets asking for help. -Nobody starves in Berlin. There are free distributions of bread, -soup, and potatoes in all quarters of the town. The money you can -spare for charity should be sent to the Relief Committee; this -will ensure that such institutions are kept going. The beggars are -only trying to make money out of your sympathy, and their tales of -misfortune, in most cases, are absolutely false.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Unemployment seems to have increased enormously, especially for women, -owing to the fact that most manufacturers have closed down their works, -either for lack of raw material or for lack of demand. In some other -industries where women cannot take the place of men workers are badly -needed. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> have been told that unemployment is even greater in the -northern towns. The toy-making and fancy goods industries are almost -entirely stopped, as the stores are full of goods prepared for the -usual exportation, which is, this year, entirely paralysed.</p> - -<p>Paper, wool, metal, and wooden industries no longer receive their usual -supplies of raw material; and though articles manufactured of these are -badly needed, the works have had to close.</p> - -<p>Metals have increased enormously in price, and all the reserves of -so-called noble metals, and also of nickel, etc., were requisitioned by -the military authorities. Such metals are indispensable in the making -of new guns, and also for repairing the old ones put out of action by -long usage. Lead is also very much dearer than usual, and everybody -is instructed to take down old gas and water pipes and to bring them -to special depôts, at which the metal is bought by weight at standard -prices, to be forwarded to military works, where it is converted into -bullets. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> - -<p>As for copper, a few old mines which had been given up forty years -since because they did not pay when the metal could be imported freely, -have been reopened with success and give employment to some of the -out-of-work folk.</p> - -<p>Bread, except in the Zucker-Baeckereien, which are not forced to sell -at standard prices, is getting very scarce, and all bakers study every -possible way to make it as heavy and as economic as possible.</p> - -<p>Wheat and other cereals, all equally scarce, have been seized by the -Government, which lets the different bakers have so much a week and -gives instructions about bread substitutes and the methods of making -them as healthful and nourishing as possible. The Government also -recommends the baker to make his wares as little appetising as possible -so that people should not eat too much out of <i>Feinsmecherei</i>—gluttony.</p> - -<p>The last quality, if not the other two, is certainly prominent in the -German bread I have seen. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> - -<p>Though bread is not the most important part of the daily food of the -German population, and though in many provinces potatoes have almost -completely taken its place, yet the problem is very serious, and -Germany tries to face it in all possible ways. Large quantities of -wheat have been imported from Roumania, and potatoes, dried peas, etc., -from Switzerland.</p> - -<p>Through Holland, Germany still gets a certain amount of fruit, beef, -and cheese. Special stores have been arranged for the preservation in -good condition of perishable goods for a fairly long time.</p> - -<p>Good Munich beer is now a luxury obtainable only in a few high-class -establishments. The materials, which usually come from Russia, are -naturally all stopped; moreover, the strong young fellows who generally -work in the large breweries are now at the front. It would not be -surprising in a few months to see Germany reduced to drinking aerated -waters.</p> - -<p>Upon reflection I think I must be wrong,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> however, for there is now in -Germany plenty of champagne—champagne of German make, which is sold at -very low prices, and excellent French champagne of the best brand, sold -a lot cheaper than it was ever possible to buy it, even in France.</p> - -<p>A large shop in Unter den Linden displayed a window full of "Mumm," -"Clicquot," "Pommery," and practically all other first-class champagnes -at five marks (five shillings) a bottle. In the middle of the window -was a large poster saying that here was a unique opportunity, and that -every Berliner must have on his Christmas dinner table a bottle of good -French champagne to drink the health of the Kaiser. This is probably -the first effect of the wholesale sack of Rheims. To obtain such a -noble result even the shelling of the cathedral was not too much.</p> - -<p>I was struck by the enormous number of children in the street. The -first time I observed this I thought that I was near a school and that -the children were just coming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> out; later on I saw that it was the same -everywhere. I very often saw a lady with ten or twelve children, as -though she were taking a whole school for a walk.</p> - -<p>The explanation is that children from the towns and villages near the -Russian frontier have been sent to Berlin; a great number have arrived -also from Galicia. The schools are all closed, and the children thus -left free all day long.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>I have said that the Berliners have been taken by a sort of mania which -makes them detest everybody on earth who has not the great fortune to -be born a German subject. I was not quite right.</p> - -<p>If, besides the enemy she is fighting, Germany loathes Italy for -having deserted her and also for having taken Valona (the Albanian -port which Germany meant to offer Italy as a bribe for neutrality), -America for supporting Belgium and sending ammunition to the Entente, -Austria for not doing well enough, etc., she has still a place in her -well-protected <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>heart for one tender love. The lucky country which -occupies this position is Turkey. Everyone in Berlin talks of the Turks -as the best soldiers in the world (always excepting the Germans, of -course). Enver Pasha is considered one of the best servants of the -Kaiser.</p> - -<p>Turkey has taken the place of Italy in the defunct Triple Alliance. -In the streets of Berlin I saw quite a number of fez, only a few of -them worn by Turks. The others were worn by children or by the plump -beauties of the German capital, amongst whom the fez is perhaps even -more popular than is the "Tipperary" cap over here.</p> - -<p>Everybody seems to have great hopes in Turkish co-operation. There is -a little disappointment over Egypt, Algeria, and Tunis, because they -have not awakened yet; but it is hoped that they will do so in a few -weeks. I don't believe that military circles are as optimistic as are -the general public about Turkish help.</p> - -<p>An officer told me that the action of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> fleets in the Black Sea had -to be postponed owing to damage to two of the units of the Turco-German -Fleet. The transport of Turkish troops from Asia Minor to Egypt had -been promised in an endeavour to make a Pan-Islamic war, but it -would be very difficult to carry out such a scheme. He said it was -not unlikely that a certain contingent of Turkish troops, especially -cavalry, would be brought to Germany next spring.</p> - -<p>Curiously enough, this love for Turkey is not extended to Austria, -which country, after all, has already made the biggest sacrifices in -this war.</p> - -<p>I saw many wounded Austrian officers in Berlin. Apparently more -Austrian troops will arrive shortly in Germany. It seems that more -cavalry is urgently needed for the operations in the East.</p> - -<p>One evening I was sitting in my stall at the Lessing Theater, where a -boring "1870" drama had been revived; in front of me were two Austrian -officers, while at my side some German people were discussing the war.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> -They were speaking loudly about the battle in Galicia, and passed many -untactful remarks, evidently meant to be heard by the Austrians. They -carried this to such a length that the two officers left their seats -and walked out.</p> - -<p>Listening to other people's conversations is certainly the best way of -getting unsophisticated impressions of what they think, as when they -know they are talking to a foreigner their Chauvinism makes them speak -in a more optimistic way.</p> - -<p>"We cannot keep on for ever racing our troops from west to east; if -we do not obtain a success now in Flanders, I don't know what will -happen afterwards when England sends her new troops," said one of the -theatre-goers.</p> - -<p>"Don't be frightened," said another, "she will want to keep too many -soldiers at home to defend her own coasts. I think the danger is now -on the eastern side, and that we had better go ahead there as far as -possible; who knows if we leave the Russians alone, how many men they -will concentrate there?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well, I only hope it will soon be over, otherwise we shall all be -ruined," said an old man, evidently belonging to the shopkeeper class.</p> - -<p>"It will all be over in a year."</p> - -<p>"In six months."</p> - -<p>"You are wrong, it will be over in four months. The war cannot last -more than that; the Tribunal of Brunswick having to call a witness in -a case, and the witness being at the front, decided that the witness -being detained by an engagement of uncertain duration, the cause should -be called again in four months. Evidently the war cannot last longer -than that."</p> - -<p>Everybody laughed at this typically German joke, but I am afraid the -Brunswick magistrate will have to adjourn the case for many a four -months, even if the Court has not to renounce the witness completely.</p> - -<p>The night life of Berlin, which had struck me so much ten weeks ago, -may be considered now as dead. The cabarets are closed, not by the -police, but from the lack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> of male customers. Of the theatres only the -Lessing, the Schiller, and the Neues Schauspielhaus are still open; -the music-halls have reduced their prices and are arranging special -patriotic shows to attract the public, but their efforts do not seem to -have succeeded, and almost every week some of them close to reopen no -more.</p> - -<p>The great amusement of Berlin is the cinema, where really wonderful -pictures are shown. Most of the pictures are faked; but they are so -cleverly done that the public does not doubt for a second that it -is seeing real battles, and tries to pick out relatives amongst the -soldiers in the pictures represented as fighting at the front.</p> - -<p>There are wonderful dramas full of English and French spies, traitors, -and rascals, and of German heroes—all very much appreciated.</p> - -<p>The show is generally closed by slides showing, under the title "What -We Have Achieved," photos of Brussels occupied by the Germans, of the -ruins of French and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> Belgian towns, of destroyed bridges and shelled -cathedrals. The audience cheer loudly at each picture.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>"Ist Gott neutral?" I read this astonishing question printed in red -letters half a foot high on numerous posters stuck on the walls all -over Berlin just as if it was the most ordinary question, such as "Is -Holland neutral?"</p> - -<p>At first I took it for one of those complicated swear-words one so -often hears in Southern Italy. I looked naturally for the answer.</p> - -<p>The answer was given by P. Samuel at the Circus, the very theatre at -which Max Reinhardt produced his cumbersome "Miracle."</p> - -<p>P. Samuel was a name perfectly unknown to me, but I learned that its -owner is a preacher of large fame in Berlin. I decided to go to his -lecture.</p> - -<p>The enormous hall was filled by over 5,000 people. Evidently, thought -I, P. Samuel is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> a celebrity. In a powerful, low-pitched voice he -started to speak amidst perfect silence. I listened.</p> - -<p>God is not neutral! He is with the Germans. That is why He has placed -them in the middle of Europe. After this war they will be for ever -the first nation of the earth. But they must go back to Christ; the -bankruptcy of materialism is complete. How could a materialist explain -a phenomenon like the present war? The name of Idealist which has -covered the whole nation from the beginning of this war has been -superb; but an Idealism without religion must lead to final disaster.</p> - -<p>The victory of our arms is certain. Since Frederick the Great Germany -has attributed to God the habit of being on the strongest side; now -we can say that He is behind our guns. But even if they are not the -strongest, God is with us all the same. He gave us our genius, our -culture, our art, our music; He gave us the mission to make us teach it -to the whole world. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> - -<p>The victory is certain, but we must afterwards be worthy of it.</p> - -<p>At this moment it was that I really saw a new Berlin, a Berlin -unsuspected, a Berlin I did not know, a Berlin which is really a -creation of the war.</p> - -<p>Five thousand people had come to this theatre to hear that God is not -neutral. After the preacher had finished the people sang:—</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>A safe stronghold our God is still,</div> -<div class="i1">A trusty shield and weapon;</div> -<div>He'll help us clear from all the ill</div> -<div class="i1">That hath us now o'ertaken.</div> -<div class="i2">The ancient prince of Hell</div> -<div class="i2">Hath risen with purpose fell;</div> -<div class="i2">Strong mail of craft and power</div> -<div class="i2">He weareth in this hour;</div> -<div>On earth is not his fellow.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>After that a sudden extraordinary and fascinating thing happened. The -preacher, with his strong, calm voice invited the audience to pray with -him; Pater noster.... The men stood, the women knelt down with the -children, struck by a sort of mystic terror. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Vater unser der du bist im Himmel...."</p> - -<p>Five thousand people of all classes, of all social conditions, everyone -with a father or a brother or a husband to pray for, recited the -Paternoster in the theatre.</p> - -<p>They recited it in a low voice, like the murmur of a quiet river.</p> - -<p>Then there was a short silence followed by the benediction, recited by -the black-bearded monk, and the crowd walked out quietly.</p> - -<p>I walked out with the others, and I found myself a little distance -from one of the smartest concert-halls in Berlin, in which a certain -Professor Blüthner was to deliver a lecture, the title of which had -attracted my attention when I had seen it announced in the morning -newspapers; it was, "Us, Italy, and England."</p> - -<p>As I was just in time I stepped in.</p> - -<p>The audience was very select, the five marks admission being devoted to -the fund for soldiers fighting at the front. Most of what is left of -Berlin society was there. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> - -<p>With polished words the lecturer served out to his hearers the -most astonishing theory: England took part in the struggle, not in -defence of Belgian neutrality, but in fear of Italy becoming a great -Mediterranean Power.</p> - -<p>How? The explanation, according to the lecturer, was simple.</p> - -<p>The Anglo-French Naval Convention imposed on France the necessity of -keeping her fleet in the Mediterranean. If England had kept neutral -she would have allowed France to bring her fleet out to protect her -defenceless coast; but in that case Italy would have been master of the -situation in the Mediterranean.</p> - -<p>That is why England preferred to declare war. Clever and simple, this -explanation, is it not? What will Italy do?</p> - -<p>Mr. Blüthner knows quite well.</p> - -<p>Italy, he is quite certain, will decide to join Germany before long. -Is she not the motherland of Machiavelli, and Machiavelli, we all -know, was decidedly against any form of neutrality. Neutrals, said the -lecturer, will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> be hated by the beaten nations at the end of the war -and despised by the victors.</p> - -<p>Therefore Italy will join the German side, and the old ideal of the -German Empire (as wrote Bernhardi) will again come to life in a -federation of Germany, Austria, and Italy.</p> - -<p>I wonder if, in a few months' time, this delightful Mr. Blüthner will -be of the same opinion?</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER VI</span> <span class="smaller">VIENNA</span></h2> - -<p>During my first visit to Berlin travel by railway was almost -impossible, so slow, crowded, and irregular was the service at that -time. Now it has been completely restored, and, if anything, probably -better than it ever was, thanks to the small number of passengers. Even -dining and sleeping cars are obtainable on the principal lines.</p> - -<p>In the train which took me from Berlin to Vienna the civilian -passengers were no more than half a dozen; all the other passengers -were officers and soldiers, mostly wounded Austrians returning to their -motherland. Some were very seriously injured and groaned continuously; -others had horrible wounds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> badly bandaged; some were disfigured; some -had had limbs amputated.</p> - -<p>They begged from the other passengers a few coppers to buy fruits or -cigars, but hardly anybody took any notice of them. They were nearly -all cavalrymen, and, as is usual in Austrian regiments, were of -different nationalities. This explains the lack of fellowship among -them—the lack of a sentiment which generally so much sustains soldiers -of other nations.</p> - -<p>At a frontier station we were able to buy some Austrian papers. -They gave us a sort of foretaste of life in Vienna. There was very -little news, but talk about wonderful victories in Galicia and Serbia -(official), followed by a long white space where a comment had been cut -out by the Censor.</p> - -<p>Two hours before publication a complete proof of every Austrian -paper must be presented to the Censor. Anything not considered fit -for publication is cut away; consequently the paper is often much -ornamented with blank spaces. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> - -<p>The big station at Vienna presents a really astonishing sight. Wounded -soldiers and refugees are everywhere. Outside the station it is the -same—and it is the same in the large central streets, in the parks, in -the churches. Vienna is the first great town completely transformed by -the war that I have seen.</p> - -<p>On the broad footways at the sides of the streets there are two -unending processions of tired, famished-looking refugees. Most of them -are from Galicia, but there are thousands also from other provinces of -the Empire.</p> - -<p>The authorities do not know where to place them; they do not know what -to do. They make the refugees walk with all that they still possess on -their shoulders. Often a sack and an old chair or some other piece of -furniture will be carried about for days and days.</p> - -<p>These people have the eyes of those who have seen the horrors of war -without knowing what it is all about, without asking or being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> able to -understand why their fields should be destroyed, their houses burned, -and their pacific existences overturned by the calamity. Vienna does -not know what to do with them.</p> - -<p>The subscription list started for the refugees has not been successful, -and Vienna is invaded by an enormous number of women, children, and old -men, penniless, without clothes, and with no means of subsistence. It -is very difficult to suggest a solution to such a condition of things. -The Government has sent 60,000 to 70,000 of the fugitives to towns in -the west; but there the same phenomenon repeats itself on a smaller -scale.</p> - -<p>The first effect of such a condition of things is the enormous increase -in the prices of foodstuffs. Milk, potatoes, meat, sugar, etc., are -double the usual price; eggs have become a food for the rich, and -bread, even of very bad quality, is expensive and scarce.</p> - -<p>Special decrees have been issued with the purpose of restricting the -use of flour to no more than 50 per cent. in bread and 60 per<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> cent. in -cakes, which are not allowed to be made, even in private houses, more -often than twice a week.</p> - -<p>In the restaurants almost every dish has become more expensive, and -there are no more dinners at fixed prices.</p> - -<p>Coal is a luxury, it being an absolute impossibility to get any from -the Westphalian mines. Gas has nearly doubled in price, and poor people -who could not pay their bills had it cut off immediately.</p> - -<p>Most of the hotels are full of families of the Galician aristocracy. -These families seem to be living a very gay, frivolous, and expensive -life. Smart carriages and motor cars run about the streets that are -full of starving people; while ladies, in £1,000 furs, and gentlemen, -smoking half-sovereign cigars, lounge about the hotels. I have never in -my life seen a more insolent and less appropriate display of wealth. -The rich Galicians show no inclination to help the poorer refugees. "We -are refugees, too," they say.</p> - -<p>Outside the stations I saw a crowd of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> people waiting for soldiers to -arrive. Having lost faith in what the newspapers say, and aching for -news, the population is trying to get it directly from those coming -from the front. Nearly all the decently dressed Viennese people wear -mourning and nearly all have the armlet of the Red Cross.</p> - -<p>The number of wounded in Vienna is astonishing. All the schools, public -buildings, assembly rooms, most of the theatres and halls, and even -some of the pavilions which generally shelter picture shows and other -attractions, including the famous Circus, have been converted into -hospitals. All the Viennese are trying to nurse soldiers to the best of -their ability; but everything is scarce, from bandages to medicines, -from cotton wool to beds and litters.</p> - -<p>A new calamity seems to be approaching now. Smallpox is breaking out in -the poorer quarters and is claiming many victims, especially amongst -the refugees. Another epidemic that is visiting Vienna is cholera.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> The -fact is being kept very dark by the authorities to avoid panic; but it -seems that during one week more than 500 lives were lost through the -terrible disease.</p> - -<p>While taking my after-lunch coffee I was astonished to hear at my back -a conversation taking place in the Venetian dialect; two soldiers were -talking about the war, and their accents did not leave me in any doubt -as to their nationality. I went to them and, after a few minutes, won -their confidence and got them to talk.</p> - -<p>They had been wounded in Serbia and had been sent back to Vienna to be -cured. Now they were well and were going back to the front again next -day. I shall never forget the two poor young fellows; one of them was -just twenty, the other about twenty-five; and both were natives of -Trieste.</p> - -<p>They confirmed all that has been said about the system of the Austrian -officers, and added things which I should not have believed had I not -heard them from the victims of the atrocities themselves. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> - -<p>They told me that in the Austrian Army the word of reproach has been -substituted by a spit in the face or a stroke with a switch; the whip -and the revolver in the hands of officers at the back of their men -serves to send them forward. The hesitation of a second is punished -by a shot. The soldiers obey; but during the struggle there is always -a bullet for the brutal officer which does not come from the enemy's -lines, and which avenges the murdered private.</p> - -<p>All sorts of tortures and insults are inflicted on the soldiers.</p> - -<p>I could not find a word of consolation for the poor chaps who were -going back to such an infernal life. I shook hands with them and walked -away.</p> - -<p>All the other soldiers—German or French, Russian or Serbian—are, -after all, fighting somebody they detest for the victory of their -Motherland; but these poor chaps, forced to give their lives for a -nation they detest, to fight men against whom they have no hate and who -could perhaps help them to get back<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> their independence, are the most -pathetic figures of the whole war.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>The Austrian war loan seems to have been an absolute failure. Nobody -wants to buy shares, and the few millions subscribed were taken by -Government employees, who were forced to do so. The high financial -world and the aristocracy have been very stingy; so now the Government -is trying to get at the small purses.</p> - -<p>On the café table, at the post offices, and in the hotels numerous -pamphlets are to be found saying that everybody ought to subscribe at -least twenty-five crowns, not only as a contribution to the nation's -need, but also as an excellent investment. Nobody seems to be anxious -to make the excellent investment.</p> - -<p>It is the middle class which is said to be suffering most under these -conditions, for they have no money in the bank, they hardly manage to -make any money at all at the present moment, and, at the same time, -they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> don't want to admit that they are in need of anything.</p> - -<p>Vienna has, at the present moment, scores of families—well-dressed and -well-connected—who are starving at home, families which, before the -war, used to live up to their full income and generally above it, and -which, now the father is unemployed or at the front, are absolutely -penniless and too proud to accept anything from public charity.</p> - -<p>But the Viennese is certainly one of the most light-hearted persons on -earth—the war is going badly, the town is full of starving people, -the empire is engaged in a dangerous adventure, the end of which he -does not take the trouble to prognosticate; but what does it matter? He -talks about the war to crack a joke on the subject; he sees and laughs -at the faults of his allies; he manages to have a good time as far as -possible. The few theatres left open are crowded, as well as the cafés, -the cabarets, and all other places of amusement.</p> - -<p>About politics, or the conduct of the war,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> he does not care to talk. -The argument is sad and it is not even very safe to say exactly what -one thinks on the subject.</p> - -<p>If anybody is heard talking pessimistically about the war he is -denounced to the authorities. A case is made against him, and the -imprudent chatterer is almost certain to be condemned. I know of a -man who got two months' imprisonment for having said that he did not -believe the newspapers.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>Besides the hospitals fixed up in numerous picture-galleries, -theatres, university buildings and private houses, the Prater's -constructions given up to depôts, magazines, and aeroplane sheds, -and the complicated system arranged for the collection of money and -comforts for the troops, all of which have altered considerably the -general appearance of the city, the thing which astonished me most -was the activity of a society which bears the harmonious name of "K. -u. K. Oesterreich-Ungarischer-National-Sprachen-Gebrauchs-Verein," -the nearest translation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> of which I can think of is "Society for the -exclusive use of the national language in the Austro-Hungarian Empire."</p> - -<p>Vienna is certainly one of the towns outside France which shows a -strong French character, and the language, as well as the life of the -whole city, bears evident marks of it. Well, this society wants to rid -the Viennese slang of French words, as well as of all words not in the -German dictionary. The first effects of this movement have been to make -numerous hotels, cafés, and cabarets change names, and the publication -of pamphlets, distributed freely all over the town, in which are full -lists of the <i>taboo</i> words, as well as of the numerous French and -English Christian names which are quite usual in Vienna, and which, it -is requested, should now be given up.</p> - -<p>However, the great majority of Viennese people laugh at this mania; -the Chauvinistic spirit is not very much developed in Vienna, and the -hatred of England, which is Berlin's strongest feeling, is hardly -noticeable here.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER VII</span> <span class="smaller">SWITZERLAND</span></h2> - -<p>We have become so used to regarding Switzerland as an -all-the-year-round playground, and the Swiss as a race of -hotel-keepers, waiters, and guides, that many people were quite -surprised to learn, when Switzerland mobilised, that she could put an -army of 250,000 in the field.</p> - -<p>Switzerland, which has been for centuries the battlefield of European -nations, has understood that even her perpetual neutrality, guaranteed -by the Powers, could not save her from the danger of an invasion if she -did not boast a fairly strong army, and in 1874 she organised a proper -military service. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> - -<p>A regular army as known in other countries Switzerland does not -possess, but she has an admirably organised militia, an army of citizen -soldiers. The German Emperor, during his last visit to Switzerland, -in September, 1912 (during the first one, nineteen years before, he -had a much more enthusiastic reception), assisted at the manœuvres of -the Swiss army, and his dream of a German Switzerland as a "Germanic -Dependence" must have had a very severe shock.</p> - -<p>His reception was nothing more than polite, and all the shouting and -flag-waving part had to be done by a large portion of the 300,000 -German subjects living in Switzerland, who took the trouble to go to -Berne specially to see their Kaiser in his carefully chosen uniform. -William II., being now aware that the Swiss nation does not mean to -preserve her neutrality by sending troops only to the Franco-Italian -frontier, will realise that the fact that the Swiss President carefully -avoided showing him, or any of his officers, the fortifications<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> of the -German frontier was not a mere coincidence.</p> - -<p>It was just a few days after this famous visit that a Franco-Swiss -newspaper printed this wonderful little paragraph about the German -Emperor:—"People have so often talked about the cult of peace without -believing in it that one may finally be permitted to believe in it -without talking about it."</p> - -<p>In any case, the Kaiser, as soon as he was back in Berlin, sent to the -Swiss Government 2,000 yards of grey-blue cloth to dress a group of -the Swiss infantry troops, which at that time were still wearing very -dark uniforms. The Kaiser observed that those uniforms would be very -conspicuous in wartime, and his present of cloth was most appreciated, -and lately, with a slight modification in the shade, adopted.</p> - -<p>Troops dressed in this way are now watching the German frontier.</p> - -<p>Though the Swiss recruit has a very short training, he is quite -effective as a soldier.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> As a schoolboy he has a proper physical -training, and when he leaves school he generally joins a rifle club. At -twenty he is liable to military service, which for every Swiss lasts -a period of twenty-five years. During the first year he is called out -for recruits' service, which in the infantry lasts forty-five days, in -the cavalry eighty days, and in the field artillery fifty-five days. -On completing his first year he joins the Élite, or active army, and -remains in it for twelve years. On leaving the Élite men pass to the -Landwehr, in which they remain until their twenty-fifth year of service.</p> - -<p>A third line of troops for home defence is furnished by the Landsturm, -which is composed of all able-bodied citizens between the ages of -seventeen and fifty who are not embodied in the Élite or Landwehr.</p> - -<p>The Federal Army thus constructed may be said in round numbers to -consist of:—Élite, 135,000; Landwehr, 82,000; and Landsturm, 63,000; -total, 280,000—an astonishing figure if one considers the total<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> -population of Switzerland and how cheaply this army is obtained.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>Before the beginning of this war one must admit there was a sort of -ill-feeling in the Swiss Confederation against France. To protect her -national industries the Republic used to be very strict on the subject -of imports from Switzerland, and the custom tariffs for exportation of -goods to France used to be much higher than those upon exports into -Germany or Italy. Since the war broke out everything has changed; the -example of Belgium and of what happened to that unfortunate nation, -for the sole reason that she was "in the way of the Germans," has made -Switzerland think how analogous is her own situation with the situation -of Belgium.</p> - -<p>The so-called "verbal treaty" existing with Germany stood little chance -of being respected after the way in which the regular treaty with -Belgium had been violated.</p> - -<p>At the very beginning of the campaign<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> there was great fear of France -trying to pass through Switzerland, fear increased artificially by the -Swiss Press, which has always been frankly in favour of Germany. But -now the Swiss population begins to realise how things are really going, -and their attitude is really and strictly neutral.</p> - -<p>It appears that the respect and ingratiating attitude towards Germany -shown by Switzerland at the beginning of the war was the usual -behaviour of the small weak boy towards the school bully. Moreover, -there was some excuse for this. It is very difficult to obtain any -papers other than German in Switzerland, and all the calumnies printed -in them were taken by the Swiss population for gospel truth.</p> - -<p>Now some of the Berne papers begin to show a little more independence, -and print side by side the different official <i>communiqués</i> of the -various nations.</p> - -<p>The Government has begun to think seriously about the food supply -question. Supposing Italy should go to war—which, it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> is realised, may -quite well happen any day—what would happen to Switzerland, surrounded -by Germany, Austria, France, and Italy? Where could she get the -foodstuffs she is bound to import?</p> - -<p>Large depôts and stores of all kinds have been arranged, and severe -measures have been taken against contraband runners, who up to October -last were carrying on extensive operations. The Government has -monopolised the mills and the whole of the wheat reserves, as well as -all imports, which are taken up by the Government and sold at standard -prices and in no larger quantities than is absolutely indispensable.</p> - -<p>All the Swiss people I came across seemed to be occupied more by -their commercial interests, badly hit as they are by the war, than by -anything else. They only wish for the war to cease, the sooner the -better.</p> - -<p>There are hardly any foreigners in Switzerland, though some Swiss -hotel-keepers have been advertising both in England and Germany: in -England that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> the German managers and waiters had been removed; in -Germany that no English guests would be received in their hotels.</p> - -<p>However, business was very slack, and everybody seemed very pessimistic -about the coming summer season.</p> - -<p>Though the sentence, "Politically we have nothing to get and nothing to -lose," is often repeated, I met somebody who showed me that the great -crisis has awakened hopes of national development even in this quiet, -business-like little country.</p> - -<p>At the Bubenberg, a large Berne café of world-wide fame, I met a Swiss -ex-officer whose white hair saved him from the danger of the Landsturm -service. In front of him, on the marble table, a large map of East -Switzerland was wide open, and he was tracing a few mysterious lines -on it with a blue pencil. When I asked him about it, he told me that -the north frontier of Switzerland could never be safe unless it was a -"natural" one.</p> - -<p>"Our canton of Shaffausen," said he, "is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> completely isolated -among German land. We want this little piece of territory between -Ludnigshafen, on the Boden-see, and Bargen. We want also the Wutach -frontier, from the spot where this river marks our frontier with -Germany down to the Rhine."</p> - -<p>"And what about your neutrality?" I asked him.</p> - -<p>"Oh, the neutrality, <i>mon ami</i>, could not mean much in a general -modification of the European map; and beside that, <i>vous savez l'apetit -vient en mangeant</i>; and if everybody has a piece of Germany, why should -we keep out of the feast?"</p> - -<p>It will be just a hundred years next September since the Prussian -Principality of Neuchatel became a Swiss canton. Well, after all, the -old Swiss captain's idea would be a rather smart way of celebrating a -centenary.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER VIII</span> <span class="smaller">ITALY</span></h2> - -<p>"What will Italy do?" The question is often repeated in the newspapers -of the capitals of Europe. The interest in the attitude of Italy, the -only Great European Power which has not, to the time of writing, taken -a part in the war, seems to increase every day.</p> - -<p>For one who is here, in Rome, the answer can hardly be doubtful. Italy -looks very much like a country getting ready for war; like a country -that understands to the utmost that this is an occasion on which to -fulfil her national ambition—an occasion that will never return.</p> - -<p>When the war broke out, Italy found <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>herself in a peculiar position. -Bound by the decrepit Triple Alliance to Austria and Germany, but with -her interests, feeling, and sympathies on the side of the Entente, -Italy did not, unfortunately, feel strong enough to take a decision -straight away. Her army, especially the artillery, was in need of much -material; the Tripoli war, the plan and conduct of which was marred by -the very same mistakes England committed in the South African War, had -swallowed up more money and men than had been expected. Her diplomats, -though warned of the approaching storm, did not believe that it would -break so soon, and under such a condition of things, neutrality seemed -for the moment the only possible attitude.</p> - -<p>Italy fully realised that if she wanted to take her part in this -war, or at least if she wanted to safeguard her own interests, she -had to get ready first. The large quantity of guns, which had been -ordered at Krupp's, was not supplied, and Italy had to make good the -deficiencies with her national industrial<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> resources. Nearly all the -large metal-works in Italy started making guns under the supervision -of artillery officers; new uniforms, new boots, ammunition, sanitary -necessities, etc., have been prepared in very large quantities. The -fortresses on the Alps and the eastern frontiers have been reinforced, -and a number of regiments generally quartered in South and Central -Italy have been moved steadily to the northern towns.</p> - -<p>This as far as the Government goes. As for the spirit of the army, -it could not be keener. In the barracks the old songs of the -"Risorgimento" have been resurrected and have taken the place of the -Neapolitan melodies.</p> - -<p>Many officers told me that their men kept asking, "When are we going -to fight?" just as if Italy was already at war. The aspiration to the -possession of Trento and Trieste, which, during the last twenty years -seemed to have weakened considerably, has now reawakened as strong as -ever, and the many inhabitants of Dalmatia and Istria, who have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> left -their homes for Italy during the last months, to escape persecutions -and vexations of all kinds, are carrying on an active propaganda.</p> - -<p>Almost every day there are demonstrations in favour of going to war. -The university towns of Italy are like powder-magazines ready to -explode at the first spark of war, and the professors have to use -all their authority to keep their students quiet and to prevent them -running away to enlist in France or Montenegro. Before the war the most -educated Italian classes gave to Germany a place of honour amongst -the cultivated nations of the world. Now this feeling has completely -disappeared and its place has been taken by disgust and hate for the -country which has disguised her incurable barbarism under a mask of -more or less real culture. German people in Italy have never got on -very well with the majority of the population, but now they are having -a very hard time. Everybody tries to avoid them, in the way of business -and relations of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> other kinds, and most of those who did not go -back to fight for their country have left for America, or have become -naturalised Italian citizens.</p> - -<p>Public opinion in Italy varies from province to province. While all the -south is frankly eager for war as soon as possible, in the northern -provinces, the richest and most industrial of Italy, the population is -just now recovering from the financial losses inflicted by the last -war, and would prefer Italy to keep neutral as far as possible.</p> - -<p>This does not mean that the war would be unpopular there. Rich -provinces are a little like wealthy people; they would rather keep -quiet and continue in their profitable business, but when the danger -is near and fighting is unavoidable they give up without regret their -everyday habits and bravely do their duty.</p> - -<p>The different tendencies of the north and south meet in Rome. Though -there are no more convinced adherents of the Triple Alliance left -in Italy, and though you cannot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> find a single Italian who will say -that his country ought to have fought side by side with Austria and -Germany, the neutralist party is still very strong, and the idea of -making <i>cause commune</i> with France still keeps some of the intransigent -Catholics from joining the War Party. The Socialists have assumed a -sort of wait-and-see attitude which will easily be changed at the right -moment to frank support of the war; and the new Nationalist Party, -though only a few years old, is making gigantic progress.</p> - -<p>The most important part of the Italian Press has never ceased, -since the beginning of the war, to try and make the nation feel the -disadvantages of an uncertain position.</p> - -<p>Without England or France having supported them, or even treated -particularly well their correspondents (many Italian journalists, -Barzini included, were arrested and sent back to Paris when found -too near the front), the Italian Press, with few and not important -exceptions, has opposed the idea of neutral policy. One of the most -important<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> of Italian journals printed as a sub-title to its heading -in big type the sentence of Machiavelli: "Neutrality is never suitable -to a nation, for a State who keeps neutral loses her friends, does not -gain advantages and, when the war is over, ingenerates such diffidence -about her future conduct that no other nation cares to conclude an -alliance with her."</p> - -<p>Germany and Austria, recognising the trend of public opinion in -Italy, did not economise money or trouble in an endeavour to change -its course if possible. Two or three newspapers were bought by a sort -of secret trust which depends upon "Palazzo Venezia," the Austrian -Embassy in Rome; some others were largely subventioned; news made -in Germany was sent out, not only to all newspapers, but to private -houses. A friend of mine kept a full collection of such pamphlets right -from the beginning of the war. The circulars are issued every two or -three weeks, and generally begin with a formal denial of everything -that has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> stated by the French, English, and Russian official -bulletins. Accusations of pillage, robbery, murder, and cruelties of -every possible kind are made against the Allies, and are <i>proved</i> by -bogus letters from German officers and soldiers. This system, though it -certainly does not succeed amongst the more educated classes, scores -a little more amongst the lower-class folk, who are highly flattered -to see amongst their weekly correspondence a large letter bearing for -crest the Austrian or German eagle.</p> - -<p>Another system largely employed by Germany in their attempted work of -modifying Italy's public opinion is the free supply of photographs -and sketches to illustrated newspapers. Above all, however, they have -concentrated their endeavours upon the kinema.</p> - -<p>The picture-house has ceased to be the means of spending an hour far -from business and worry, in a restfully darkened room, watching a -moderately amusing and, possibly, highly moral film, which does not -suffer if one misses part of it. Now it has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> become an instrument used -by Governments for educating the people.</p> - -<p>Germany produces a large number of war films, both for home display -and for abroad. There are descriptive, allegoric, sentimental, even -comic films inspired by the war: the soldiers of the Kaiser do the most -wonderful things. They are strong, generous, good-humoured. Most of -these scenes are arranged, and only slices of real life in the case of -military revues and parades are introduced.</p> - -<p>The German authorities seem to be specially anxious to prove one thing: -that the German soldiers are behaving like gentlemen, and that the -stories about their deeds in Belgium and France are calumnies.</p> - -<p>Perhaps this very earnestness in trying to alter a prevalent belief -proves that Germany has not quite a clear conscience on the subject.</p> - -<p>So, at least, seem to think the Italian public; and when some such -pictures were shown lately in Rome and Milan, nobody<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> took them -seriously, and they were considered as childish fakes.</p> - -<p>Such films are offered to picture-house managers on extremely tempting -terms by special agents, who tour all over Italy. Nearly all the -atrocities which were proved to have been committed by the Germans -themselves are attributed in these films to the Belgians. In one of -them a Belgian woman sets fire to the bed on which three wounded -German soldiers are dying, and runs away after taking their watches -and pocket-books. In another picture the old tale of the <i>treachery</i> -of the Louvain inhabitants is staged in a very fierce manner; I have -also seen a picture of a cavalry charge given as having been actually -taken during the war in Flanders, but which was really part of a two -years' old manœuvre film, easily recognisable because the uniforms have -changed since then.</p> - -<p>As no English or French war pictures reach Italy, the local firms have -to make their own war-films to suit the taste of their public. In the -country round about Milan, Turin,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> and Rome, the principal centres of -the Italian film industry, cardboard Belgian villages and churches, -trenches, and terrible-looking fortresses have been constructed, and -one can often see hundreds of "Tommies" in khaki, French "pioupious" -and helmeted Germans fighting miniature battles.</p> - -<p>Another of Germany's devices to capture Italian public opinion was the -famous tour of Italian journalists, organised by a well-known German -emissary, who, by the way, has been arrested lately as a spy in Naples.</p> - -<p>None of Italy's best-known journalists, nor any correspondents of -predominant papers, accepted the invitation, and only about twelve -young men, belonging to second-rate journals, went, chaperoned by the -vigilant Herr Sweinhart.</p> - -<p>But they were only allowed to see parades and specially prepared -trenches, or batteries which had never been exposed to the fire. They -were shown a concentration camp, but were not allowed to speak to the -prisoners.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> They were taken to Liège to see the forts, but not to the -destroyed towns in Belgium. Then they had to go back to Berlin and were -kept there in one of the principal hotels, waiting for the moment when -everything should have been arranged for them on some quiet spot of -the Russian frontier. The tour came to a sudden and rather unfortunate -end, as the journalists, having realised that they were allowed to see -nothing of interest, but only what pleased Herr Sweinhart, decided to -return to Italy at their own expense, and did not write a line about -their experiences so as not to excite the hearty laughter of their -wiser colleagues.</p> - -<p>The cleverest move of the Austro-Germans in the direction of keeping -Italy quiet as long as possible was certainly the sending of von Buelow -to Rome as German Ambassador.</p> - -<p>The personal charm of this clever diplomat probably accounts for -Italy's attitude during the last months. He acted, and is still acting, -like a rubber cushion between the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> Teutonic ruggedness and the Italian -susceptibility.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>In the little "Trattoria" near Piazza Colonna, in which most -parliamentary men meet in preference to the big, gilded, French-style -restaurants, where the food is excellent, the wine taken with a gay -murmur from large barrels showing at the back, and where hardly any -"outsider" or any foreigners dare enter, so modest is the appearance of -the establishment, half-a-dozen world-known writers, politicians, and -journalists were enjoying a "fritto di pesce," abundantly accompanied -by the light wine, "delli Castelli." The subject of the conversation -was, of course, the war. All the sympathies were on the side of the -Entente. A copy of <i>The Times</i> was passed from one to another, and -the most important news was translated for the benefit of the few of -the company who were not familiar with English. A well-known writer -of military criticism in one of the principal Italian papers, a -former Major<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> in the army, produced a letter from one of his sons, -now fighting with the French army in Alsace. The letter was very -enthusiastic about everything and everybody at the front; the young -man was one of the very last to manage to join the voluntary corps, -Italy having, since December last, stopped completely the granting of -passports to young men liable for military service.</p> - -<p>The wonderful work of the "Dante Alighieri," the society which has been -struggling hard during the last years to keep the Italian language -alive in the provinces under foreign domination, the last poem of -D'Annunzio on the war, the concentration of troops near Verona, were, -in turn, subjects of conversation. I got the impression that for them -the question was not, "Are we going to war?" but, "When are we going to -war?"</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>Italy has suffered very much already for this war. All her commerce -with the Continent has been stopped, as well as her <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>shipping lines -trading with Constantinople and the Black Sea. The shortage of -petroleum, coal and wood has hit many of her industries, and some -foodstuffs have increased considerably in prices.</p> - -<p>Moreover, the annual tide of foreigners which is the principal resource -of many Italian towns has not come this year, and Italy begins to -realise that if she is not going to war now, she has made enormous -financial sacrifices to equip her army. She will have shared all the -disadvantages of the fighting countries without being able to get any -of the recompense.</p> - -<p>It is now for Italy to make a great decision. If she believes in her -destiny, if she feels that there are in her energies, intelligence, -and possibilities of taking her real place amongst the great Powers of -Europe, she has to fight.</p> - -<p>If she feels she is not equal to such a task, then she had better -become at once the first of the defensive countries and renounce all -her dreams of empire; she had better sell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> her fleet, economise on -armaments, and invest the money saved in first-class hotels, casinos, -and spas. She has certainly beauty and natural advantages enough to -out-rival Switzerland, Spain, or Norway.</p> - -<p>But the modern Italian is rather tired of being the citizen of a -country admired only for her blue skies, her Roman monuments, and her -rich museums. He is more proud of her industrial enterprise, of the -wide expansion, of the wonderful progress of his country in the last -fifty years, than of the fair pages of her history. He will not hear -about renouncing what he calls the third renaissance of Italy.</p> - -<p>That is why I believe Italy is going to fight.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER IX</span> <span class="smaller">FRANCE</span></h2> - -<p class="center"><i>Notes taken while Motoring on the Riviera.</i></p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Mentone.</span></p> - -<p>In the southern sunshine it is a strain to realise that France is at -war, that, in the north, the biggest war the world has ever seen is -being fought out desperately day after day. The only unusual sight -is the groups of Senegalais, the French Colonial soldiers, and the -blackest niggers I have ever seen, walking at leisure on the parade -with a curious movement of the arms and of the whole body, which -reminds one, at the same time, of a bear in his cage and the balancing -efforts of a dancer on the tight-rope. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> are waiting expectantly to -be sent to the battlefield, and in the meantime enjoying themselves, -walking about holding each other's hands, and laughing at everything -with a wide, good-natured laugh. Everybody likes them and spoils them. -To see the Senegalais walking amongst the palm trees under the tropical -sky of Mentone, clad in dark blue with the wide scarlet belt round -their waists, is really a pleasure to the eyes.</p> - -<p>They look and feel at home. When I see a coloured man or a Chinaman -in the Strand I generally feel sorry for the poor beggar; he would be -all right in Pernambuco or in Canton, but in London he looks like a -violation of the natural order of things. That's why I was pleasantly -surprised when I saw the Senegalais of Mentone. Most of them are very -fine fellows, well over six feet, and quite a number show wound scars -and medals, which prove that they will not be new to fire when they -take the field.</p> - -<p>In addition to the coloured troops, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> many soldiers are seen now -in Mentone, as the wounded sent down here are still in the hospitals, -and only very few risk the air. But a few may be seen in the sunshine, -surrounded by a small crowd of admiring children and of sympathetic -grown-ups of both sexes. The temporary hospitals have been arranged in -a number of the larger hotels which were formerly owned by Germans, and -prove now most useful and comfortable for the French wounded.</p> - -<p>Mentone had during the last few years acquired the fame of being one of -the most Germanised towns of France. This sort of pacific invasion was -encouraged by the German Government in the hope that Italy would stick -to Germany in the long-expected struggle, and she could then have a -sort of <i>avant-garde</i> of friends in French territory at the beginning -of hostilities. Instead, when the war broke out, after a week's -hesitation France withdrew practically the whole of her frontier troops -and guns, while Italy was doing the same at the other side. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> - -<p>When the Germans were forced to leave, one of the expelled -hotel-keepers, after passing the Italian frontier, which is at a few -yards' distance from the last houses of Mentone, showing his fist to -the crowd still on French territory, shouted: "<i>Au revoir!</i> In two -weeks in Paris!" His hotel has been the only German house in Mentone -wrecked by the population.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Monte Carlo.</span></p> - -<p>In every small town along the Riviera I came across I never failed to -ask: "Are there any British wounded here?"</p> - -<p>The answer was always the same "No, not yet, but we are expecting some, -sir"; or, "Mrs. or Miss So-and-So has offered her villa, with doctors -and nurses and everything, so they are bound to come soon."</p> - -<p>And this is perfectly true. Everywhere, even in small villages like -La Turbie, English ladies have offered to equip their villas as -hospitals for British wounded. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> no one has been sent yet, and the -beautiful houses in that wondrous climate, which would certainly mean a -delightful and quick convalescence, still remain empty.</p> - -<p>If no use is made of such generous offers the fault will more easily be -found in England than in France.</p> - -<p>During a long motor trip all along the Upper Corniche Road I saw -hundreds of French wounded who have become quite well and will go back -to the front in a few days' time.</p> - -<p>I spoke to some of them, and all admitted that there is nothing like -staying, even for a very short time, on the Riviera to pick one up -after the life of the trenches.</p> - -<p>Not only wealthy people in their villas, but many among the middle -classes and even poor folk find room for convalescent wounded in their -homes; a doctor goes round every morning, but all the nursing is done -by the families who take charge of the sick men.</p> - -<p>Motoring on the Riviera is now a fairly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> complicated business, in -spite of the passports and other documents which everyone now carries. -At every control—and there is a control at every village—there are -difficulties.</p> - -<p>This severity rather surprised me, considering how easily one can get -into France from England, Switzerland, or Italy.</p> - -<p>The explanation was given me by a lieutenant, who said that, during -the last few months, German spies had been pouring into France -continuously, either by means of the passports of neutral nations, or -by landing in the seaside towns near the frontier from a small boat. -This accounts also for the fact that sailing or boating has been -forbidden, except in special cases, and for fishing purposes.</p> - -<p>The war has affected the Riviera in one curious way. Certain articles -have become quite cheap, others more expensive than usual, owing to the -fact that the goods service with Paris is infrequent and too slow for -perishable stuff, and that Italy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> since the war broke out, has stopped -any exportation of foodstuffs.</p> - -<p>Eggs, cheese, and butter are getting dearer, while flowers, oranges, -&c., which generally are exported to Austria, Russia, and England, are -now obtainable at extremely low prices.</p> - -<p>This last Christmastide the Riviera suffered a famine of -Christmas-trees. The young pines used for this purpose generally arrive -in large quantities during the week preceding Christmas and come from -Col di Tenda, on the other side of the frontier.</p> - -<p>But wood is amongst the things the exportation of which from Italy -has been stopped, and as it was too late to get pines from somewhere -else, the children, for the most part, had to be content with curious -substitutes; while the Senegalais in Mentone had their first, and let -us hope last, Christmas-tree made with a huge laurel.</p> - -<p>Life is altogether considerably cheaper than usual in Monte Carlo, -at least for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> winter visitors. Most of the hotels have reduced -their tariffs, and I could name more than one very first-class house -which, probably for the first time in their existence, have quoted <i>en -pension</i> terms.</p> - -<p>Summer is naturally the quiet season on the Riviera, and it is -then that Monte Carlo proceeds with her yearly toilet, undergoes -transformations and improvements. Quite a number of embellishments -had just been started when the war broke out, and at the moment these -constructions remain unfinished, waiting for quieter times.</p> - -<p>For instance, the familiar square in front of the Casino, and the Hotel -de Paris, with its lawns and flower-beds, has become an enormous hole, -an excavation which looks like a quarry. In a day still distant it will -become an underground garage in which the cars of the visitors of the -Casino can wait instead of crowding all along the Avenue des Palmiers.</p> - -<p>The work, which was begun last summer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> and should have been finished by -December, was interrupted by the war. The Casino is open, with Louis -Ganne, of "Marche Lorraine" fame, Caruso, and all the other great -artists. None of the usual Russian and American customers are seen in -the <i>salles-de-jeu</i>.</p> - -<p>When I entered the roulette room the gambling was very slack. There -were only eight or nine people round the green table. Three old ladies -of the special kind one sees only in the Casinos of the Riviera—blonde -wig, wrinkles patiently filled up with pink paint, and a small, sickly -dog emerging from a fur-lined bag—were playing very methodically with -very small stakes; two Americans were staking high and losing a fair -amount; an elderly Englishman of the retired major type was going <i>en -plein</i> every now and again after consulting each time a small red-bound -book, in which all the <i>en pleins</i> of perhaps twenty years were marked, -while a party of Spaniards, evidently new to the green table, were -playing irregularly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> in a foolish way and losing nearly every time.</p> - -<p>A young French artillery officer, still limping, and with his right arm -suspended by a black silk bandage, entered the room, came straight to -the table and put two louis on the 14 a second or so before the <i>rien -ne va plus</i> was pronounced.</p> - -<p>The little ball stopped on the 15.</p> - -<p>A lady who was with the officer excitedly pinched his undamaged arm.</p> - -<p>"You never listened to me, Jean," she called out. "You forgot the -little mark on your left shoulder."</p> - -<p>Everyone within earshot, the imperturbable croupier included, smiled. -The officer himself joined in, and could not help giving some -explanation.</p> - -<p>"My wife," he said, "insisted on putting my money on the number -corresponding to the number of my wounds. I have fourteen to speak -of, but I did not count a tiny scratch which a bullet made on my left -shoulder."</p> - -<p>Then, addressing his wife: "The next<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> time I come back we will count -everything. We'll get an <i>en plein</i> then!"</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Nice.</span></p> - -<p>Though the affluence of foreign people at Nice is, this year, greatly -reduced, the population of the town is perhaps higher than when the -season is in full swing.</p> - -<p>Nice has, this year, an unusual class of guests, people who, up to a -few months ago, used to think of Nice as a sort of earthly paradise -reserved to the plutocracy of the new and old world, and who would -never have seen the Côte d'Azur if the war had not chased them from -their homes in the east of France and in Belgium.</p> - -<p>Nice has, at the present moment, five or six thousand refugees, and -more are expected. I saw groups of them walking along the long dusty -road that runs at the side of the Paillon, the little torrent which, in -winter, looks quite a respectable river.</p> - -<p>Here is nothing of the Nice that English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> people know; no hotels, no -palm trees, no flower-beds, no smart shops.</p> - -<p>The town in its eastern part has preserved its look of sixty years ago, -the only new constructions being two huge hive-like barracks. It is -probably uglier and dirtier than the commercial quarter of Marseilles -itself.</p> - -<p>The refugees have chosen as their favourite promenade this dingy -quarter. Here they meet the soldiers who are coming back or are going -to their country, here the Corporation of Nice distributes twice a day -free soup to the poor.</p> - -<p>The refugees are not often seen in the smart part of the town. -The Promenade des Anglais, the Jetée, and the Place Massena are a -background too much in contrast with their ragged clothes. They don't -care to walk near the well-dressed people lounging in basket-chairs -along the promenade.</p> - -<p>Most of the refugees have taken with them all they could manage to -carry, and it is touching to see how, amongst all their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> troubles, -seldom have they forgotten the little mongrel dog, faithful companion -in the happy days before the war.</p> - -<p>I was contemplating the refugees, and walking down the irregular -pavement of a Genoese-looking street, when a strange sight met my eyes.</p> - -<p>Behind a brick wall an extraordinary structure of long wooden bars, -osiers, canes, wire-work, and such-like material, emerged and reached a -height of perhaps twenty feet.</p> - -<p>After a minute's uncertitude, I remembered that I was in Nice, the -motherland of the famous Carnival. This complicated construction could -only be the skeleton of His Majesty King Carnival himself, the jolly -deity who presides at the Riviera winter festivities.</p> - -<p>"I thought you always burnt your King Carnival at the end of the -season," I said to a native. "How is it that you preserved last year's -dummy?"</p> - -<p>"This, sir," he answered, "is not the last Roi Carnival, but the next -Roi Carnival.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> Nobody thought we were going to take him round the town -this year, but we shall probably have him finished up with canvas and -plaster all the same.</p> - -<p>"Of course, it will not be one of our great Carnivals; we have no money -to throw away this winter, but His Majesty will go round the streets -with a German helmet on his head and two upstanding moustaches, and -everybody will enjoy more than usual the moment, at the beginning of -Lent, when the figure will be set on fire."</p> - -<p>Really, Nice does not look like a town which will, this year, have -festivities of any kind. There are too many wounded and too many -hospitals; the restrictions imposed by the Government are too strict, -and the people do not seem to want any such amusement. Most of the -luxury shops remain closed, and there is no chance of having an opera -season or the famous Veglione at the Opera.</p> - -<p>When walking about in Nice one gets the impression that France's -military resources<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> are almost unlimited. I don't know how many -soldiers are in the town at the present moment, but certainly more -than half the men one meets in the streets are in uniform. The long, -straight Avenue de la Gare, the Oxford Street of Nice, is the favourite -promenade of the military element.</p> - -<p>Chasseurs des Alpes and Turcos, Colonial troops and helmeted cavalry, -lend a gay look to the wide, handsome street, and the red and gold of -their uniforms moving about in all directions reminds one of the bright -setting of a patriotic ballet.</p> - -<p>Here are the offices of the leading local newspaper. The latest war -news is written in large characters on a huge board hanging from the -second-floor windows. A permanent crowd waits there, commenting on the -cables, with an astonishing abundance of gestures, in a curious mixed -dialect of Italian, French, and Provençal.</p> - -<p>Inside the offices is a sort of picture gallery. Photographs of all -the officers and soldiers, natives of Nice who have fallen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> during the -war, with a record of their deeds, and newspaper cuttings about them, -sometimes in English as well as in French, are hung round the room, to -the respectful admiration of the people.</p> - -<p>Pious hands daily place fresh flowers beneath these photographs. All -the men inspect the collection with hats off. An old lady placed -some superb white roses round the picture of a young lieutenant; a -black-haired young girl of the working-class went round with a bunch of -scarlet carnations, and decorated the photos of those soldiers who had -no other fresh flowers.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Paris</span>, <i>February</i>.</p> - -<p>"Paris is desperately dull," said a club acquaintance whose weakness -it is to affect a <i>blasé</i> manner. He made the remark to me just before -I left London, he being newly returned from a tour in France. "Nothing -on; nothing left of what we call Paris! It is really the most boring -place on earth."</p> - -<p>So it would be for most people, I am<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> afraid—people who have always -refused to see Paris as it is, but who pretend to see it as a town in -which pleasure and habits, life and morals, are abnormal, different, -and possibly opposite to those of all other places on earth.</p> - -<p>Such people have never seen—or, at any rate, never understood Paris. -They have only seen the gay if somewhat professional, amusing if -somewhat vulgar, mask the capital of France shows to most foreigners -who do not trouble or who do not wish to see her real face.</p> - -<p>At the moment of the declaration of war this mask suddenly dropped, and -Paris appeared to the few foreigners who were there at that time to be -completely altered; anxiety instead of cynicism; patriotism instead of -that curious pose of French people which makes them enjoy running down -their rulers and reading about Government scandals.</p> - -<p>All these sentiments, which were either asleep or kept concealed -because they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> thought to be much too <i>vieux jeux</i>, came out again. -The motto of Republican France, <i>Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité</i> (which -appears so often on the buildings of Paris), ceased to sound ironic and -anachronistic.</p> - -<p>Maybe all this seems extremely boring to the more or less real -<i>viveur</i>, who cannot conceive Paris without <i>cafés du nuit</i> and -absinthe, shocking little theatres, and all the rest of Parisian -pleasures which are by no means only Parisian nowadays, and which, in -any case, are mostly organised for foreigners and by foreigners.</p> - -<p>To my eyes, Paris has never been so wonderful a city as since the war -broke out.</p> - -<p>I saw it astonished and overrun by the mobilising troops at the -beginning of the war; ready to fight the invaders and to again undergo -the calamities of 1871, when the investment of the town appeared -unavoidable; full of hope when the tide of the German advance was -suddenly stopped, not a day too soon; decided to make all efforts and -sacrifices to end the war as soon and as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> gloriously as possible now -that everybody in France is certain of final victory.</p> - -<p>It is certainly impossible in hurried notes of this kind to try -and analyse Paris in 1915. It is a subject fit for treatment only -in a book, and a large book, too. The new wave of sincerity and -self-sacrifice has swept away habits and men, affectation and vices; -and one feels that in the future Paris will never again be quite the -same as before the war.</p> - -<p>Forty-five years ago the siege destroyed for ever the society Zola has -snapshotted for us in the "Rougon-Macquard." Probably Paris will come -out of the present crisis purified of the <i>arrivistes</i>, politicians, -snobs, and pseudo-artists that we all know, thanks to French literature -and the French theatre of to-day.</p> - -<p>Then there will be room for a new society, possibly as bad as the -former, and, for a few writers, not quite as entertaining to write -about.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER X</span> <span class="smaller">HOLLAND</span></h2> - -<p>During my war wanderings I crossed Holland several times, and each -time I spent a few days there. I did this because of the difficulty of -getting the signatures of the different foreign Consuls, because of -the irregular service run by the Channel boats, and because I wanted -to witness the change which, little by little, came over Dutch public -opinion and altered the Germanophile tendencies of the early days of -the war to the sympathy for the Entente of the last months.</p> - -<p>This does not mean to say that Holland was wildly pro-German in August -and is enthusiastically pro-British now. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> - -<p>Holland is essentially pro-Holland, for can we blame her for this -attitude, which has been christened by an eminent writer of a neutral -country "sacred egoism"?</p> - -<p>We who belong to nations numbered, since a more or less long time, -among the great Powers, love our country and our independence in a -different way from that of the subject of a small nation. We love it, -as a matter of fact, without thinking and without speaking very much -about it; we know she is in a position to defend herself if attacked, -and that she is able to make other nations respect her.</p> - -<p>But a Dutchman, like a native of all little States, loves his country -and cherishes her independence with the tender and anxious feeling we -feel for a person we might easily lose. He knows how difficult is the -position of his country, and the example of what happened to Belgium -has made him even more thoughtful about it.</p> - -<p>The bygone sympathy for Germany was not of a very demonstrative sort, -and was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> inspired in the Dutch population by the undeniable affinity -of race, as well as by the never-completely-extinguished jealousy of -Belgium and the ill-feeling against England due to the Transvaal War.</p> - -<p>But a distinction has to be made; if the Dutch people were rather -inclined towards Germany on account of her activity, her commercial -prosperity, and her wonderful development (which, indirectly, has -done a lot of good to Holland—intermediary and natural channel -between Germany and the sea), they felt the opposite sentiments -towards Prussia. "Prussia" means, in Holland, the military caste, -the Hohenzollern system, the competition in armaments, the general -predominance of the soldier over the civilian.</p> - -<p>This Holland could never like. She belongs to the hen type, and not to -the eagle type. She will fight if she is forced to do so, and fight -well too, but she leads a useful existence, and does not understand -nor appreciate the system of life of the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> bird and his mania for -space, for dominion, for prey.</p> - -<p>Then came the war, and Holland had to arm, and the refugees began -to pour in from the Belgian frontier, and with them their tales of -horror; then the action of England protecting the weak against the -strong captured the sympathies of the Dutch public; the rudeness and -clumsiness of the German Government, its system of war, its campaign of -paid articles in the Dutch papers and spies all over the Dutch country, -its unfortunate diplomatic conduct, did the rest.</p> - -<p>Each time I visited Holland during this war I received the impression -that England had acquired, and Germany lost, some more friends.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, the Government proceeded to look after the defensive -works, and the mobilisation, which was thought at the beginning of the -war to be a temporary measure, became a permanent thing. In Holland, -before the war, a soldier or an officer was a curiosity. I remember -that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> during my first visit, years ago, I wanted to see the different -uniforms of the Dutch Army, but could never manage to do so, so scarce -were the soldiers. Even at the Hague one used to see very few officers, -and I remember asking a Dutch friend, "Where do you keep your army, -please?" To which he answered, "I am not quite certain if we have one!"</p> - -<p>Now soldiers are everywhere, and good, solid, sturdy soldiers they -look too. I saw them drilling in the grounds near Haarlem, on the long -straight avenue that leads to Scheveningen, in the narrow lanes which -run by the side of the canals, and I received the most favourable -impression.</p> - -<p>But the element <i>Man</i> is necessarily of secondary importance in the -defence of a country like Holland. The only effective system of -protecting her well-developed frontiers is by fortifications, and to -this Holland has turned her attention long since. During the last forty -years the Dutch Government has carried out, at great <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>expense, the -construction of a line of forts, complete with channels, blockhouses, -and redoubts, all along the German and Belgian frontiers.</p> - -<p>Recently these forts were all armed with modern guns, and the capital, -Amsterdam, was also fortified in a modern and efficient manner.</p> - -<p>But this does not mean that the defence of the country would be carried -out without much trouble; on the contrary, if Holland went to war, -the forts would offer a temporary resistance against the gigantic -modern artillery, and then the sluices would be opened and the whole -of the country, with the exception of a few eastern provinces, would -be covered by the water of the Zuyder Zee, the level of which, as -everybody knows, is higher than the level of Holland. The towns and -villages would be kept out of water by means of a system of strategic -dykes, and the country would probably resist for a long period.</p> - -<p>But what an enormous price Holland<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> would have to pay! The century-long -work which has transformed a sea-bed into the productive, modern -Holland would be completely wasted. For years and years to come the -industrial life of Holland would be spoiled, and it is almost certain -that the little kingdom, instead of being one of the richest, would -become one of the poorest countries on earth.</p> - -<p>This is certainly one of the many reasons why Holland does all she -possibly can to remain neutral.</p> - -<p>Up to the present she has succeeded in the difficult task, thanks not -only to the action of her Government, but also to the behaviour of her -subjects.</p> - -<p>When you speak to a Dutchman who happens to have been near the frontier -and to have spoken to Belgian refugees, he may let himself go and use -a bitter phrase against Germany, but he will suddenly stop with the -sentence: "Of course, I am a neutral, and this does not really concern -me."</p> - -<p>It is wonderful to see how the single<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> individual understands the -fragility of his country, which reminds one of the earthenware pitcher -travelling with the bronze vase. Even when he had to suffer personally -from German manners (and many inhabitants of Holland trading with -Belgium were treated in the most disgusting way), the Dutchman will -generally add, as a sort of excuse, after relating his adventures: -"But, of course, they are at war, and probably one cannot help doing -such things even to neutrals when one's country is at war."</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>If Holland is "the most neutral of neutral States," it does not mean -that the war is not felt financially in the country. In Amsterdam a -member of the Chamber of Commerce told me that Holland's trade since -the war began has been reduced gradually by more than 65 per cent., and -that this figure is continually mounting higher.</p> - -<p>Moreover, the refugees from Belgium who have found asylum in the -western provinces cost the nation a fair amount of money, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> to -consider the expense of the fully-mobilised army's upkeep and the high -prices paid for the hurried fortification works carried out since the -beginning of the war.</p> - -<p>"Dutch people are said to have made a good deal of money out of -Germany, up to December or even later, by selling her foodstuffs and -other articles at very high prices," I remarked, remembering what I had -heard both in England and Germany.</p> - -<p>"Somebody certainly has," admitted the Dutchman. "Since August, 1914, -our Government has stopped the exportation of wheat, etc., but some -German private agents used to buy it and send it to private addresses -in Germany; we really don't know what happened to that stuff, and as -the prices offered by the Germans were very good, I know that a lot of -merchants here were only too glad to make business with them. Now the -new customs regulations have completely stopped this, and I can tell -you that lately Germany has not managed to get anything through the -frontiers. The German agents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> are still here, as well as in Rotterdam -and other towns, but they have realised that it is impossible to send -to Germany the foodstuffs, etc., which they have already stored for the -purpose, and now they have stopped buying."</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>During my last visit to Holland I was struck by a curious phenomenon. -Dutch people are very fond of humming a tune. They hum it when they -walk, when they read, when on business, while smoking huge cigars. True -enough, it is very difficult to detect the tune, as they generally -distort it in the most unexpected way, but as everybody seems to be -fond of the very same tune at the very same time, after hearing three -or four performances you usually get to know what they mean by the -series of mewings and mutterings they send out, together with abundant -puffs of white smoke. My different visits to Holland have been marked -by different favourites in the way of tunes: "Merry Widow" three years -ago, then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> "Dollar Princess," then "El Choclo," then "Dixie," and the -last time "Tipperary."</p> - -<p>Men, women, and children have really gone Tipperary-mad; they make -the most gallant efforts to master the tune, hum it all the time, ask -for it in the café or theatre, and put the Tipperary record on the -gramophone every night before going to bed.</p> - -<p>When at the Hague I saw at a music-hall a <i>revue</i> in which the -Tipperary tune returned over and over again like a nightmare, and a -Dutchman at my side observed to his wife, who was marking time to the -music by alternating movements of her head, causing her corkscrew -earrings to rattle to and fro: "Isn't it a charming melody?"</p> - -<p>At any rate, the "charming melody" has been officially acknowledged in -Holland, and I heard the military band at the Bosch playing it in front -of the Royal villa.</p> - -<p>"That's a real breach of neutrality," I remarked to a Dutch officer who -was with me. "If you are not careful you will have serious trouble with -Berlin!" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, no; we are very neutral. I, personally, am absolutely impartial, -and don't care a scrap, for instance, whether Berlin is blown up -or burnt down," he answered, repeating, for the hundredth time, a -joke which has lately captured Dutch sympathies at least as much as -"Tipperary."</p> - -<p>Walking through the wonderful wood which probably has no equal in -Europe, calm and imposing as it is with its green ponds and its -gigantic lime-trees, we came to the large avenue on which is the Palace -of Peace, the greatest irony in brick and stone human mind has ever -conceived.</p> - -<p>"You should be ashamed to talk like that, you official guardian of the -temple of European peace," I said.</p> - -<p>"We are jolly glad to have this big palace here," he answered, smiling. -"We are short of large barracks at the Hague!"</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>The names of Nispen, Rosendaal, Bergen-op-Zoom, and of many other -little towns and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> villages of North Brabant, will always in future -call to my mind the most touching scenes I have ever witnessed. The -multitude of refugees who have found asylum in the frontier towns of -Holland called to my memory the crowds of starving folk in the best of -Goya's sanguines, or the intricate groups of absent-minded humanity in -some of Previati's wonderful drawings. Every face, every movement, not -only of men and women who have <i>seen</i> and <i>understood</i>, but even of -children, is full of pathos and tragedy.</p> - -<p>Even now, months and months after their flight from that hell of -sacked, burned, and destroyed towns which was Belgium before Antwerp's -capitulation, they look frightened, worried, and restless as on the day -of their arrival.</p> - -<p>Dutch hospitality, which has been celebrated for centuries and -centuries, has in this case surpassed itself. The crowd of starving, -penniless, terrorised people found a kindly reception, and within a few -days' time all churches, public buildings, theatres,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> and chapels were -transformed into lodgings for the new guests.</p> - -<p>But soon this was not enough, and temporary constructions had to be -erected at public expense, most of the able-bodied refugees helping in -the task.</p> - -<p>About 350,000 refugees are now in Holland, some in the frontier towns, -some in the large towns of South and North Holland. Rotterdam and -Amsterdam, the Hague, and Leiden and Haarlem received with outstretched -arms, dressed, sheltered, and fed their share of Belgians without -making any fuss about it, just as if it was the most natural thing to -help this wave of humanity which had come into their country.</p> - -<p>It may be said here that not a single charity show, fund, or special -committee has been arranged. The different corporations give what they -can or take as many refugees as they can afford to keep. The same -with private families. I have seen a humble workman offer a corner of -his bedroom and his dining-table to a Belgian boy who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> lost his -parents, and consider him as one of the family.</p> - -<p>At Ossendrecht, quite close to the barrier of wood, barbed wire, and -stones thrown across the country road to mark the frontier of Holland -and Belgium, of peace and war, there is a little café where most of the -refugees from Antwerp made their first halt in Dutch territory, and -which really would have done a roaring trade since the beginning of -the war but for the fact that most of the customers were not even rich -enough to pay for their bun or for their glass of beer, and but for the -kind-hearted proprietress who could not refuse such comforts even if -she had no hope of getting paid for it.</p> - -<p>She was a tall, solid, and healthy-looking woman, who seemed to have -stepped from a Rubens canvas, with a glory of fair, curly hair and a -complexion to render jealous the brightest Haarlem tulip. When she -asked me in her curious dialect—which, as a compliment to me, was -mixed with a few English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> words—if I wanted "Pilsener" or "Dunkel," -she was carrying two babies of apparently the same age in her arms, one -each side. I was wondering how she would manage to bring me my drink, -when she put one of the babies on the counter and kept the other in her -arms. The baby on the counter fell asleep, but the other one started -crying desperately.</p> - -<p>She told me that only one of the babies, the one on the counter, -was her own, and that he was born in August; then her husband was -called away by the mobilisation order, and the refugees began to -pour into Holland like flocks of sheep chased by wolves. One day a -tired, ill-looking woman came with a baby in her arms. She crossed -the frontier and was almost carried into the little café, as she was -too faint to walk any further. She said her husband had been killed -at Liège, and asked to remain just one night. Though there was not a -single bedroom to let in the little café, the kind-hearted giantess -agreed. The next morning the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>Belgian woman was very ill, and in two -days she was dead.</p> - -<p>"The little girl was just about as old as my boy. I was strong enough -to keep the two," she concluded, with a proud smile. "Why shouldn't I -have kept the two?"</p> - -<p>"And what about your husband?" I asked, admiring her great simplicity.</p> - -<p>"I wrote him a postcard, telling everything; and he answered that for -him it would just be as if we had got twins."</p> - -<p>From Ossendrecht to Bergen-op-Zoom a curious steam tramcar, in the -middle of which a group of natives and refugees dry their feet at a -red-hot stove, affords me a curious place of observation. Old women, in -the celebrated lace bonnets and gilded helmets of the Dutch peasants, -seem great friends with Belgian girls, who try their best to convert -their Flemish into a language as nearly as possible Dutch. I learn that -a lot of refugees go on daily pilgrimages to the frontier, where in one -way or another they manage to get some news, or at least a talk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> with -their country-people who continuously come out of Belgium.</p> - -<p>The refugees' most difficult task is apparently to find each other. I -know of sisters from Malines with their families who have been living -for two months within a few hundred yards one of the other, and each -believing the other killed or gone to England. One finds everywhere, -carved into trees, scribbled on walls, or written on pieces of paper -nailed here and there, addresses of refugees wishing and trying to meet -old friends or relations.</p> - -<p>Sometimes the address is a sensible one, but often one cannot help -laughing on learning that the present address of a refugee's family, or -part of it, is a church, or a theatre, or a motor garage, or even, as I -have seen, a stable or cellar.</p> - -<p>At Bergen-op-Zoom the refugees are certainly twice as numerous as the -ordinary residents, and the little town, the present look of which -belies its bellicose traditions, has been given up completely to them. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> - -<p>Here the refugees can get their meals for nothing, or, if they can -afford to pay for them, for a few coppers, and the depôts of foodstuffs -specially reserved for them are so gigantic that they seem sufficient -to keep the whole country going for a long time.</p> - -<p>I have assisted at a dinner of refugees in a large schoolroom close -to the Hof van Holland Hotel; hot steaming soup, vegetables, roast -meat, cheese, and ham were freely given away by young girls in the -picturesque costume of the country.</p> - -<p>The food seems excellent. The convivial scene reminded me more of the -dinner of country people than of a charity meal. A faint smile comes -back to most of the refugees' faces as they eat.</p> - -<p>This war, the simple and noble manner in which the Dutch have given all -they could to the refugee Belgians, will certainly kill for ever the -century-long jealousies which were still alive a few months ago.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XI</span> <span class="smaller">ANTWERP—THE DEAD CITIES OF BRABANT</span></h2> - -<p>One must have known Belgium before the war, and have travelled through -that rich and beautiful country in times of peace, to realise how great -is the change. All that has been written up to now about what has -happened there is in reality much less than the truth.</p> - -<p>Every town, large and small, every country village, one might almost -say every inch of Belgian soil, bears the heavy mark of the invaders. -What nobody dared to touch they have destroyed; what was believed to be -protected by religion and tradition they have profaned; what centuries -had made sacred for any thinking being they have demolished. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> - -<p>We send to prison and often take the life of the man who kills another -man. Here defenceless old folk, women, and children have been killed by -thousands without a motive, even without a pretext. We rage impotently -at the earthquake which destroys towns and takes the toll of life. -Here human beings have surpassed the earthquake. We shiver at the idea -that a fire could destroy the treasures of art which are often the -only chain which links us to past generations. Here men who proclaimed -themselves the greatest admirers of all the arts stood by and watched -the treasures of the world burn by the flames they themselves had -lighted.</p> - -<p>I have been practically across the whole of Belgium, from east to west, -from north to south. From Antwerp to Liége, from Namur to Tournai and -to Ghent, by road and by rail, but mostly on foot, on horseback, or -by prehistoric vehicles, as it is impossible to get a motor-car at -any price. Always the same sight. A population that hardly dares to -hope, aching for real news—a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>population that is feeling a grief too -deep for tears, and is plunged into a tragic, dumb sorrow. There it -lives and works under the mocking eye of the Conqueror. Sometimes this -Conqueror is frankly rude and violent, as he loves to feel and to look -like the real descendants of that Attila he has glorified. Sometimes he -takes on a mask of scoffing politeness which is still more unbearable. -During the first month or so the Germans tried to make friends with the -population; the men tried to mix with the people; the officers with the -best families. Their advances always received an icy though more or -less polite reception, so now the enemy has assumed an air of disdain -for the weak little nation it is keeping under its heel.</p> - -<p>The little steamboat which took me from Flushing to Antwerp all across -the Escaut was laden with a pathetic crowd. There were mothers going -back to see their sons, who, being of age liable to military service, -had not been allowed to leave Belgium;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> parents whose only desire was -to discover the grave of their son; people who, having come to an end -of their resources, were going back to their deserted ruined homes, to -their little piece of land which is now covered by water two feet deep.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>When we sight Antwerp it is already dusk, and round us is the large -harbour, which has completely lost its wonderful multiform life. -Carcases of old boats, breasts and keels of sunken ships, emerge from -the lead-like water, suggesting the terrific curves of prehistoric -monsters. Some of these boats were sunk by the British before they -left. Others were sunk by the Germans, who madly shelled their own -mercantile ships together with those of the Allies. On the top of a -mast a French flag is still being washed continuously by the waves.</p> - -<p>The complicated landing formalities distract my attention from the -contemplation of this cemetery of ships. We are searched three times. -Every scrap of paper in our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> pockets, every single article in our -luggage, is carefully examined. Then our passports. Very few of these -seem complete enough to please the German authorities. A man who is -travelling with somebody else's pass is discovered and taken away. -Two ladies are not allowed to land, and they are taken back on board -screaming and crying; in two days they will be sent back to Holland. -Only German is spoken here, though nearly all the officials know French -perfectly. If one does not understand German, one cannot possibly get -on. After a couple of hours we are allowed to go into the town. No more -taxi-cabs are running owing to the shortage of petrol, and also to the -fact that all vehicles have been taken up by the German Government. The -town is dark for fear of an aerial attack. Patrols of Landsturm men -pass continuously across the principal street, and fill the town with -the squeaky noise of their nailed boots. The password is loudly shouted -when they meet another patrol.</p> - -<p>At the hotel everybody is German, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> the manager to the liftman and -to the chambermaids. As for the guests, they are all German officers. -Every good hotel in Belgium is at the present moment inhabited almost -exclusively by German officers, and outside the main doors a white, -black, and red striped sentry-box has taken the place of the majestic -doorkeeper.</p> - -<p>Most of the officers are not alone; they have sent for their wives, and -very often even their children, nursemaids, servants, and dogs.</p> - -<p>I am told the German Government is encouraging this kind of thing, -and offers special travel facilities for wives and families. Lately -non-commissioned officers and men have been allowed to send for their -families. I don't know the real reason of all this, but it is certain -that the Germans are trying hard to give the Belgians the impression -that they have come to stay. In many places they have taken houses or -flats for a year, and have paid for them in advance, and in some small -towns in which it is not possible to get a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> comfortable residence they -have started the construction of new villas and cottages.</p> - -<p>I walk down the Avenue de Keyzer and enter a very large restaurant, -which seems also completely in German hands. Even the menu is printed -in German, and hardly a single Belgian enters the huge establishment. I -ask for some newspapers, and I am told they can only get German ones; -at ten o'clock every light must be out. People walking in the street -without special permits after half-past ten are likely to be arrested.</p> - -<p>Antwerp is probably the most Germanised town in all Belgium, owing to -the fact, I believe, that even before the war any amount of German -people lived here, and nearly all the hotels were already in German -hands. The town itself does not appear much damaged by the bombardment. -Now and again a large hole or a burnt ruin shows the spot were a bomb -has burst, but to see real destruction one must go to the southern -suburbs, outside the Porte de Berckem.</p> - -<p>Here are the old forts, some half destroyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> by shells, some still -untouched, and most of the houses show wide open wounds, red with -freshly smashed bricks. Most of the forts are now converted into -barracks for the German troops, and near every one of them is a small -cemetery, with many a glorious name written on the rough, white wooden -crosses.</p> - -<p>Though most of the actual fighting took place outside the old -fortification near the new fortresses, at about three miles' distance -from the town, some of the old seventeenth-century forts have received -their share of shells, and do not seem to have done at all badly, -considering the very modern artillery which has beaten them.</p> - -<p>Antwerp has lost more than three-quarters of its usual population, a -large part of which joined the army or escaped to Holland and England. -That is why, perhaps, foodstuff is still comparatively cheap here, and -everything except bread and vegetables seems fairly plentiful. Flour is -very scarce, and all sort of ingredients are used in its place.</p> - -<p>Curiously enough, while bread is scarce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> and very bad even in the best -restaurants, and while in most villages people are forbidden to buy -more than a small ration per head, confectioners' shops are full of -cakes and sweets of all descriptions. I could not help thinking of the -words attributed to a fine lady of France: "Il n'y a plus de pain? -Pourquoi ne mangent-ils pas de la brioche?"</p> - -<p>As for vegetables, the Belgian gardens have been completely swamped by -the inundations, and the produce imported from Germany does not seem to -go very far.</p> - -<p>There has been apparently a quiet exodus of works of art from Antwerp's -famous museums to Germany, though apparently most of the Rubens, -Rembrandts, Van Dycks, and Teniers, which were the gems of the Antwerp -collections, were taken away before the arrival of the Huns, and are -said to be now in a very safe place. Some of the remainder have now -found their way to Germany. By the way, some of the rarest specimens -of the Zoo animals have shared the fate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> of the old masters, and now -languish behind alien bars.</p> - -<p>The town is infested with spies, who are relentlessly hunting down -Frenchmen and Englishmen. As a matter of fact, everyone who comes into -Belgium is provided straight away with a sort of guardian angel, who -very often does not leave him for many days, and possibly not before he -has given him some trouble with the German Kommandantur.</p> - -<p>This has happened to me, as I will relate later on, and also to most -American and Dutch subjects who get into Belgium at the present moment.</p> - -<p>Some of them, for the simple fact that they are journalists, are taken -to Germany and interned there, and when the Embassies of the different -countries protest and claim their subjects, the Government of Berlin -answers that the captured journalists are not considered as prisoners, -but are only detained for a certain time—that is to say, for as long -as the news they have gathered remains important if made public. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> - -<p>Another variety of the so-called German Secret Service is the -agent-provocateur, who generally speaks perfect French and Flemish, -and gets a fixed sum for every arrest effected by the police on his -initiative.</p> - -<p>In Antwerp I saw one of these spies approach an old gentleman who had -a Belgian rosette in his buttonhole. He was on a tramcar platform, and -the spy said to him, "Very bitter weather for our poor little soldiers -at the front, isn't it, sir?" The old gentleman evidently knew the -identity of his companion, for he simply stared at the rascal and -turned his face the other way.</p> - -<p>The favourite ground of action of this army of spies is the railway -carriage. There acquaintances are easily and quickly made. I very often -saw people taken away at the station by two soldiers, while the hero -of this beautiful deed was following at a short distance with his face -wreathed in the happiest of smiles.</p> - -<p>To travel in Belgium now is a complicated task; railways are completely -taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> over by the German War Office, and only Germans are employed. -Not even the old porters are allowed in the stations. No tickets are -given without a special pass from the Kommandantur of the town, saying -where the applicant wishes to go, for how long, and for what reason. -Then you pay for your ticket, provided you make yourself understood by -the German employees, and you have the exact amount in marks and not -in Belgian money. There are only third-class carriages at first-class -fares—für Zivilpersonen—all the other first and second class -carriages are marked Nur für Heeresangehorige—those who don't pay -evidently.</p> - -<p>Before arriving on the platform you are searched by very rude soldiers -wearing a large crescent-shaped brass plate with the word "polizei" -suspended to their necks by a chain, like a metal label on a brandy -bottle.</p> - -<p>After this you carry your own luggage to the train, which is -thoughtfully kept waiting a quarter of a mile outside the station, in -rain or snow, and sit down in a freezing carriage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> without any light or -heating, but possibly with one or more windows smashed. Half an hour -or so after the fixed time the train begins to move; a little notice, -in German naturally, tells you not to put your head outside the window -while crossing a bridge because sentries will shoot at you, and another -notice says that, owing to the crisis, you may be asked to step out of -the carriage at any moment and without any right to protest, even if -you happen to have the pluck to do so.</p> - -<p>And ultimately, after hours waiting in intermediate railway stations, -after changing trains two or three times on a ten miles' fare, you -sometimes arrive; you and your luggage are searched once again, and -then you are let out.</p> - -<p>I feel sure most of those gentlemen got their iron crosses for much -less than this Odyssey.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>It was five o'clock in the afternoon when I walked out of Louvain -station on to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> muddy piece of uneven ground surrounded by ruins which -were once the station square. It was a grey day, and a few stray flakes -of snow were blown by the icy whirlwind in all directions. The weather -was perfectly consonant with the general aspect of the town.</p> - -<p>Right and left I could discover nothing but ruins; it was hard to -tell which was the road and which the site of former buildings. -Enormous masses of calcinated bricks and stones are all that remain -of the houses which have collapsed; as for the others which are still -standing, their appearance is still more tragic. All the inside part, -the ceilings, the staircases, the roofs, have been burned away, and the -outer wall, all out of perpendicular, still shows the pots of flowers, -the iron bars, and the metallic parts of the shutters which were burned -away.</p> - -<p>Entire rows of houses protrude on the street as if they are going to -collapse at any minute; others lean backwards just as if they were -frightened; others are all leaning on the right or the left side as if -a terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> wind had forced them into that unnatural position.</p> - -<p>Here at another spot the walls of two houses touch each other at the -top, forming a sort of pointed arch. The steeple of a little church -leans far more than the famous Pisa Tower.</p> - -<p>From every window there hangs a curious sort of transparent stalactite, -which at first sight looks like an icicle, and is formed by the -window glass melted in the dreadful heat. A three-floor house has -collapsed completely except for the wall facing the street, and at -one of the second-floor windows a bird-cage, suspended by a chain, is -still hanging, and the blizzard rattles it continuously to and fro. -For the fire has got a sort of sinister humour of its own. Here it -has destroyed completely the powerful masonry of a fifteenth-century -house whose walls were four feet thick, and next door it has blackened -without burning a fragile-looking cottage, and even left a white and -red check curtain hanging from the window.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> Further down, a butcher's -shop has completely disappeared, but a large metallic sign with an -enormous bull painted on it is still at its place, sustained, a miracle -of balance, by the frame of the burned awning.</p> - -<p>I walk down the Rue de la Station to the Grand' Place. Here was the -fine theatre in Italian renaissance; now only the four pillars of the -front mark the place where it was standing. Farther down, near the -gigantic ruins of the University and the Library, is the once-famous -Cathedral of St. Peter.</p> - -<p>Up to a few months ago this building was one of the most beautiful -examples of the Flemish florid-Gothic. All lovers of old things -remember its windows, made more elegant than those of any other -Gothic cathedral by a sort of carved balcony, its steep roof, its -solid-looking, severe front without the traditional portals. Now all -this has disappeared. The roof has collapsed. The wonderfully painted -stained<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> windows are no more. The carvings have been reduced to -shapeless calcinated stones, and the bricks underneath, re-baked by -the flames, show themselves as red as a fresh wound. A notice stuck on -what was a beautifully carved oak door tells me that the entrance to -the cathedral is strictly "verboten." But a couple of marks make the -soldier on guard close both eyes, and he lets me in after having warned -me not to say a word or make any noise, as pieces of burned wood and of -cornice are dropping down at the slightest movement.</p> - -<p>Inside one walks on a bed of rubbish four to seven feet deep. The huge -pillars stand without supporting any vault, like useless date trees. -The famous tabernacle of Mathieu de Layens has been cracked by the -heat, and tattered blackened pieces of canvas hang from the walls once -covered with paint. As for the twenty-four little statues which used to -decorate the choir, they have disappeared. I don't know if they were -taken away by the priests before the destruction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> of the cathedral or -stolen by the Germans after it.</p> - -<p>Outside, the streets are nearly deserted. A few soldiers, a few -ragged people begging for a copper or a piece of bread, these I see; -a few of the old inhabitants searching the remains of their homes and -contemplating, with the look of somebody who sees an old friend, every -bit of metal, every fragment of pottery they happen to find. They have -constructed temporary shelters and collected therein what the flames -have spared. Some are looking under their house ruins for a member of -the family who has disappeared. Every day a new corpse is found. In -every square are fresh graves, and the very day of my visit five more -victims of German violence had been buried right in the middle of the -station square, all round the statue of Van der Weyer, which has been -respected probably as an homage to its ugliness. The Kommandant of -Louvain insisted that the victims should be buried there, and not in -the cemetery, "to set a good example!" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> - -<p>In this phrase is the reason of the destruction of the harmless little -town—a reason which has puzzled the whole world.</p> - -<p>For the most dreadful part of the destruction of Louvain is that -there has been no fighting, no shelling, nothing of what we generally -understand by the word war. The town had been quietly occupied by the -Germans, and they forced the population to leave their houses without -carrying anything with them. People who tried to save anything were -robbed of what they had taken with them, the earrings were pulled out -of the women's ears (I have seen a body with both the ear-lobes torn in -two), the pockets searched, and in more than one case anybody who was -found to be carrying something was immediately shot.</p> - -<p>Petrol and some other new liquid combustible quite recently discovered -in a Berlin laboratory, and which the Louvain people have christened -"Colofogne du Diable," were poured abundantly on the whole town, -except, perhaps, on twenty houses inhabited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> by Germans. I saw, in -one of the station rooms, the fire engines which have been used for -this purpose, fire engines which bear the arms of the City of Louvain, -and which, with cruel irony, were used to set fire to the town they -had been created to save. Specially made bombs were thrown into every -house, and the Germans retired outside the town on the great boulevard -to enjoy a spectacle really worthy of Nero.</p> - -<p>But at Louvain the Germans have surpassed Nero. While the town was -still burning all the population, regardless of age or sex, was -arranged in a single line near Mont César. And then the most dreadful -thing happened.</p> - -<p>The Romans, to subdue soldiers' rebellions, invented a punishment which -always seemed to the world the limit of cruelty—decimation.</p> - -<p>The Germans at Louvain did the same thing, but they beat the Romans. -Every third man was the victim. I met a gentleman who had been twice -through this ordeal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> He was still young, but his hair was grey, and -his eyes had in them a far-off expression of terror. Near the cathedral -somebody pointed out to me a young woman gone mad through having lost -her husband and brother in this way.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>From Louvain to Malines the country shows all the signs of dreadful -desolation. Flooded land covered with ice, under which the dead lie by -hundreds, pieces of wood crowned by Belgian képis or Prussian helmets -marking the grave of officers—this is the sight. Flooded trenches -and rusty wirework, burned or cut trees, telegraphic poles smashed by -shells, and again burned houses and windmills, some of the large wings -of which have been amputated, and little ruined châteaux on the top of -which waves a German flag.</p> - -<p>The train passes the Dyle on a temporary bridge constructed at the side -of the old one destroyed by the retreating Belgians. Here were many -large greenhouses in which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> cultivation of the orchid had reached -its highest degree of perfection. Now they look like enormous cages, -every one of their windows having been smashed.</p> - -<p>Malines station gives you an idea of what the whole town looks like. -A large placard tells you that the town is now called Mecheln, and -underneath it is a large picture of the general who ordered the -shelling of the town, but met his death the same day. German soldiers -keep the frame constantly decorated with laurel branches. The glass -roof is torn by an enormous hole, through which the snow enters freely. -The waiting-room has also an extra aperture, and a bomb has taken -away every bit of the stucco work and left the walls completely bare. -Malines was not set on fire; all the ruin brought on it was due to -the blind violence of the high explosives. Evidently they are not as -destructive as the people who have invented them, and the town does not -look half as bad as Louvain.</p> - -<p>Though very few of the houses are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>untouched, the general aspect of the -quiet town has not changed much. Only one or two of the large domes and -steeples which used to emerge from the roofs of the small houses have -disappeared, and the unfinished tower of St. Rombaut has altered its -massive silhouette a little.</p> - -<p>Now and again I see deep holes, caused by shells, and houses which -have lost a corner, and allow a glance of their domestic life through -a large crevice. Here a quiet "béguinage" has received a projectile -in full, and from the street I can see a whitewashed room with a -decapitated painted crucifix, and hanging to a nail a black bonnet of -the old Brabant country woman.</p> - -<p>I think of the tragedy of the poor old lady who received that -unexpected visit in the very room in which she had chosen to end her -life. The "béguinages" of Malines are said to be the most strict of -the whole of Belgium, and in some of them the old women live for years -without seeing an outsider. Where are now the poor old things<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> who -thought every day's life full enough of private worries, and have now -been reached in their seclusion by this dreadful catastrophe?</p> - -<p>Curiously enough, Malines, which can be considered as the religious -metropolis of Belgium, establishes a real record in the way of sieges, -pillages, and plunders. French, English, Dutch have often taken and -half destroyed the town, and ultimately Napoleon dismantled it in 1804. -Some old twelfth and thirteenth century houses which have resisted all -previous trials have been fatally hit now. The Grand' Place, which -used to delight the lovers of old Flemish constructions, has greatly -suffered, and the shells with subtle perversity have spared some ugly -modern buildings and raged on what centuries had respected.</p> - -<p>Alas! these descriptions of destroyed towns, of murder and pillage; -the stories of unbelievable atrocities, even only those which I know -are true, the pictures of misery and famine which nobody would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> have -believed possible in our times, could be continued page after page.</p> - -<p>But what happened in the towns is nothing compared with what happened -in the country. There, far from the control of high officers, the -blonde beast has given way to all the brutal follies of which the Hun -is now known to be capable.</p> - -<p>I have seen and heard things that disgust keeps me from writing; -things compared with which the excesses of the French Revolution, the -bloodthirsty pleasures of some barbarian kings, the exploits of some -notorious brigands, are but the A B C of an art in which the German -army has certainly reached the highest possible standard of perfection.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XII</span> <span class="smaller">BRUSSELS, TOURNAI, AND THE GERMAN FRONT</span></h2> - -<p>To penetrate into Belgium with a passport which proves, alas! too -clearly that the bearer of it has been twice to Berlin, once to -Constantinople, and often to Paris since the war broke out, and that he -has had his passport <i>visé</i> at the various Consulates in London, is, as -a Belgian friend told me, asking for trouble.</p> - -<p>My troubles really began before leaving Holland. The German Consul in -Flushing makes all foreigners who want to go to Belgium (though there -are few enough who attempt the adventure) sign a special declaration -saying that they take the full responsibility of their own act; no -passports are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> given to leave Belgium, and people going in are likely -to be kept there up to the end of the war.</p> - -<p>The night before, at the Albion, an inn which arrogates to itself -the pompous name of Grand Hotel, I met two Belgian refugees who had -succeeded in escaping from Belgium two days before, crossing the -marshes and wireworks near Maesevck; and though I did not fancy this -way was a very comfortable one, I couldn't see why I should not use it -myself in case of necessity.</p> - -<p>At any rate, I bravely signed the paper, with the idea that something -or somebody would get me out of trouble, and, as a matter of fact, I -did not have trouble during the first part of my journey.</p> - -<p>I began to think that all that had been said about the cleverness -of the German police was a little exaggerated. But at the end of my -first day in Brussels, having retired to my room in the hotel, I was -just going to bed, when I received a visit from two gentlemen who, I -learned, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> members of the German police. They were accompanied by -four helmeted and fully-armed soldiers, two of whom remained in the -corridor outside the door, while the other two stood like mummies, one -at each side of the bed. First one of the two civilians, who seemed -the higher-placed, informed me in excellent English that I was a very -suspicious person, that the police were perfectly aware of what I was -doing in Belgium, and that the Imperial Government would take against -me any steps it thought suitable.</p> - -<p>I answered in French that I did not understand him, and that I had my -passport in perfect order. "It is easy to have a passport, but the -Imperial Government is not the dupe of such childish tricks." He then -ordered his companions to search the room. As for myself, the search -was made extremely easy by the simplified costume I happened to be -wearing.</p> - -<p>I have had lately a few experiences of this sort, but the one in -Brussels easily beat all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> the former ones. The police inspector in -Berlin and the Turkish Custom House officers are as blind as bats and -as superficial as amateurs compared with this man, who I honestly -thought was Argus himself. He examined my luggage, my linen, my -clothes, assured himself that nothing was concealed underneath the -linings, looked for a double bottom in my bag, for receptacles in my -watch-case, and produced from his roomy pockets a miniature hammer with -which he made sure that the rather high heels of my boots were not -hollow.</p> - -<p>I suppose I could not help smiling while he was taking all this useless -trouble, and the other man remarked that I need not make my position -still worse by behaving insultingly to the representative of the -Imperial police.</p> - -<p>When he had finished searching my things, the polizeier talked to -his chief, and said in German, which language they did not know I -understood, that I had evidently concealed the documents somewhere -in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> room. Lying on the floor or climbing on the chairs, helping -himself with an electric torch and with a sort of paper-knife which -belonged to the arsenal of his professional belongings, he searched the -carpet, the furniture, the bed, the shade of the electric light, the -pipes of the bath—in a word, everything.</p> - -<p>The man seemed so keen on his job that I really felt sorry I had not -anything with me which would give him the pleasure of a sensational -discovery. He reminded me of a ratter in which the gift of search is -sure and instinctive.</p> - -<p>When he thought he had found something behind the drawer of the -dressing-table his eyes shone with delight, and his voice had suddenly -an intonation of supreme joy. But he could only produce the catalogue -of a furrier, evidently left by one of the former occupants of the -room. Finally he had to give up searching, and the whole company -departed, taking my passport and all my papers with them, promising -another visit on the following morning, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> informing me not to try -and leave the hotel, or even my room, because such an attempt would be -useless.</p> - -<p>The next morning, at seven o'clock, only the two civilians came back, -and told me to dress as quickly as possible, and follow them to the -Kommandantur. I said I was quite ready to please them, but, to teach -them a little patience, had a comfortable bath, polished my nails to -the highest possible brightness, spent as long as possible in shaving, -dressing, and having my <i>petit déjeuner</i>, while the chambermaid was -packing my luggage.</p> - -<p>When I followed the two polizeiern I said to her, "I hope you don't -believe I have taken anybody's pocket-book?" "Certainly not, sir," she -answered quite seriously. "All well-to-do people in Brussels have been -taken to the Kommandantur this year; <i>l'arrestation est très portée à -présent</i>."</p> - -<p>Reassured by the assertion of the witty maid, which I acknowledged -with an extra tip, I went with my two companions to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> smart motor-car -waiting for us outside. I feel indebted to the Germans for the only -motor ride I managed to have in Brussels, no public or private car -being allowed on the road, unless for military or police service.</p> - -<p>At the police station a new and long interrogatory, followed by the -seizure of all the money I had on me. Then I was confronted with a spy -who had followed me about in my pilgrimage all over Belgium for five -days. Not a single one of my moves had been missed from the moment I -landed in Antwerp. A sort of long affidavit was drawn up containing all -the accusations against me (I do not know exactly even now what they -were), as well as my declaration and a complete list of the papers, -books, and money I had with me. I asked permission to communicate with -one of the neutral Consuls who are still in Brussels, but this was -denied me, so I had to wait four or five hours, after which, having had -a filthy German meal, always accompanied by my two polizeiern, in the -canteen of an infantry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> regiment, I was taken to the Kommandantur.</p> - -<p>The canteen was prepared for the celebration of the Kaiser's birthday; -flags and pictures of the War Lord were all over the walls, and in a -passage were piles of little boxes, sent by the Berlin population to -the troops as a homage to the Kaiser, and containing sweets, tobacco, -chocolates, and dreadful-looking handkerchiefs with the whole royal -family printed on them.</p> - -<p>The Kommandantur was in possession of the Palais de la Nation, and here -I was kept waiting two hours. Then, I suppose, not to rid me of a good -habit, I was searched once again, then asked to repeat exactly all that -was in my passport. As I could not say the exact date of one or another -<i>visé</i> at the different Consulates, I was told that I had stolen the -passport and a lot of other nonsense of the kind.</p> - -<p>I required all my large stock of patience and good humour to stand -this trying time. It was getting dark, and I began to think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> that I -should have to pass the night at the Kommandantur, when my adventure -suddenly came to an utterly unromantic end by the intervention of a -friend of mine who happens to be very influential in Brussels at the -present moment. I feel rather ashamed about it. A stout colonel with -the unavoidable iron cross, and the baldest head I have ever seen in my -life, was interrogating me for the hundredth time, when he was suddenly -put into the nicest of dispositions towards me by a letter sealed with -a coat-of-arms I know quite well. It was brought to him on a silver -tray by a Landsturm man.</p> - -<p>The colonel began to apologise, saying that he felt certain I should -understand things, and that really nothing would have happened "if you -had not looked so extremely English."</p> - -<p>I answered that I could not and did not wish to help my looks, and that -I had thoroughly enjoyed the experience. "We happen to stay at the same -hotel, I believe," he continued; "won't you dine with us to-night?" </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> - -<p>I thought it was my turn to have a little of my own back, and, looking -straight at him, I answered in my very best argot, "Ah ça non par -example!" and I stepped out, enjoying thoroughly the servile bows of -the two men who had searched me in the morning.</p> - -<p>They gave me back my luggage, papers, and money, but in German notes -instead of gold; and though I protested, as gold fetches in Belgium -about twenty-seven francs per pound, they simply answered that no gold -was allowed in Belgium, and I had to give in on this point. But I got -any amount of pleasure, quite worth the money they made me lose, by -telling them a few simple truths, which generally one cannot afford to -tell to a German unless one happens to meet him somewhere out of reach -of the police.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>After my visit to the ruined towns of East Belgium I naturally expected -to see in Brussels the depressed appearance and the lifeless look of -the other parts of the country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> I was therefore extremely surprised to -find the town with all its shops and its theatres open, and with its -everyday life in full swing.</p> - -<p>The German authorities try to keep things as lively as possible in -Brussels, and, up to a certain point, they succeed in doing so. -Officers and men have received very special orders; they can do -anything they like in the small provincial towns, but they must be -fairly polite to the population in Brussels. As long as the capital has -not been pillaged, burned, or shelled, the German Government thinks to -have in its hands proof that no useless damage was done, and that the -tragic happenings in the other towns were indirectly the fault of the -"treacherous Belgians."</p> - -<p>Another reason for this special treatment of Brussels is that though -the Ambassadors of foreign States have left for Le Havre, a few members -of the legations of neutral countries still remain in the town who -would be compromising and official witnesses of any useless acts of -cruelty. And this is why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> Brussels is the only Belgian town with a -garrison of crack troops and well-to-do officers, the only town in -which theatres are open (by special command of the Government of -Brussels), and the only town in which restaurants and cafés keep open -till eleven o'clock—some even till midnight, German time.</p> - -<p>The question of time is really very curious. One of the first acts of -the invaders was to impose, or rather try to do so, the Berlin hour -on Belgium. Everybody stuck to the old Belgian time, which is an hour -earlier than the German.</p> - -<p>Then the Germans forced the sacristans of the different churches to put -the steeple clocks back an hour, but, as by a miracle, the old clocks, -many of which had been going for centuries, developed trouble of some -kind or another, and suddenly stopped. Now it is only the Royal Palace -and station clocks that mark German time; all the others have stopped -or are undergoing endless repairs.</p> - -<p>The time at which his watch is set is now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> a sign by which you can -detect the sympathies of a person. When you sit in a tramcar or in a -café, and somebody wishes to ask you a question, he glances first at -your wrist, and, from the time of your watch, knows whether you are a -friend or a foe.</p> - -<p>The great majority of the Belgian population—I mean, of the Belgians -who stuck to their homes, as should have been done by everybody—behave -in a very dignified manner, and ignore the Germans almost completely. -Nearly everybody, rich and poor, wears a Belgian rosette or King -Albert's portrait in the buttonhole, and by so doing defy the Germans, -who regularly rage at the sight.</p> - -<p>A little story on this subject is often repeated in Brussels. A German -officer asked a lady to take off the rosette she was wearing, but she -refused.</p> - -<p>"Very well, then," he said, "I will do it myself," and catching hold of -the rosette he threw it on the floor and stamped his foot upon it. The -lady stared at him <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>contemptuously, and said, "After all, a rosette is -much easier to take than Paris." She then walked away.</p> - -<p>German soldiers have lately received the order not to bother about -such trifles in Brussels, and everybody who wishes to do so can wear -the colours of his country without serious consequences. I was really -astonished at the appearance of some of the Brussels shops. Belgian -flags and large pictures of the King and the Royal family, flanked by -engravings of the Sovereigns of England and Russia, were shown in the -windows, together with some clever caricatures and artistic etchings of -"Bruxelles pendant l'occupation," a legend which means that it is hoped -the occupation will cease as soon as possible.</p> - -<p>To say at this moment that Belgium has been stricken by famine would -be an exaggeration. Food is certainly scarcer than before the war, but -the population is less, and consequently the prices have not risen -extraordinarily. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> - -<p>At the restaurants the only dishes that are dearer are those that -contain eggs; for the others, the higher cost to the caterers is made -up for by smaller portions.</p> - -<p>Bread is really the only thing that is dear. The quality, of course, -varies, but the white, pure, wholesome bread formerly to be found -everywhere as part of the excellent Belgium cooking, is no more.</p> - -<p>From the Antwerp bread, which has now a funny taste as of dust, and the -soft part of which is browny, full of dark spots, wet and granulous, -to the brown soldier-like <i>pain d'ammunition</i> one gets in Tournai, -from the maize and millet bread of Malines, to the still white but -damp and curiously tasteless bread of Brussels—all the bread which -was served to me during my Belgian trip showed clearly all the tricks -used to provide the country with its indispensable daily bread. What in -ordinary times would have been judged only fit for animals is now sold -at very high prices and makes the base of the flour employed. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p> - -<p>In places like Brussels, where a certain quantity of good flour is -still obtainable at very high prices, the bread is made with a mixture -of wheat, potato, and maize flour, but in most towns the wheat has been -used up, and the bread has to be made without it.</p> - -<p>In all the western parts of Belgium, all that remains of the old supply -of corn is used for the wounded and the sick.</p> - -<p>Pellagia, an old and almost forgotten ailment, caused by bad bread and -rotten food, has reappeared in most of the country places where the -food is worst. Some cases are really pathetic.</p> - -<p>A doctor who is managing a hospital near Courtrai told me that it is -impossible to get the good, healthy food indispensable in illness. -Some cases of lemons and oranges for the Belgian hospitals which -were specially allowed through the Italian frontier, in spite of the -exportation bills, have been seized by the Germans.</p> - -<p>Generally, German people and German hospitals in Belgium manage to get -the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> best food; the native inhabitants have to be content with -what remains.</p> - -<p>To eat, I will not say good, but passable bread, for instance, one must -go to one of the establishments regarded as "safe" by the Germans, one -of the establishments where the Germans feed, where they can do what -they like and drink Munich beer. Such places are allowed to keep open -an hour longer than the others.</p> - -<p>German people have monopolised the fashionable restaurants, teashops, -and best hotels in the town. The Belgian population has completely -given up going into such establishments, and patronise only certain -others which manage, more or less, to keep the Germans away.</p> - -<p>The famous Café des Augustins, on the Boulevard Anspach, the manager -of which has been plucky and clever enough to do so without giving the -Government a pretext for shutting up the place, has crossed from his -lists all German wines, liqueurs, and mineral waters. As the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>German -Government has stopped the production of Belgian beer, in order to be -able to send the stored oats and hops to Munich and to Pilsen, and to -favour the sale of German beer in Belgium at fairly high prices, no -more beer is sold in the establishment.</p> - -<p>In the other restaurants, the Germanised ones, the new masters drink -beer and champagne, sing, shout, and discuss the war.</p> - -<p>All the smart tea-places of the capital like Matisse, the Palace, etc., -have been monopolised by the German officers, and a lady will not visit -them for anything on earth. "Ah non pas là; il y a trop de Boches!" -declares a Bruxelloise invited to visit such a place.</p> - -<p>It is really a trying time for a lady in Brussels, as well as all -over Belgium. The German officers do not think it too base a thing -to look up in the Kommandantur books the names of the young women -whose husbands are either at the front or in a concentration camp in -Germany; and then a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> real hunting campaign begins, generally ended by -the lady leaving her own house and going to stay with relatives or -friends. The German officer's way of paying attentions to a lady varies -from following her about in the most persistent manner to sending her -bouquets of flowers, and even to operating day and night perquisition -of her house under some easily-found excuse, or without pretext at all.</p> - -<p>I know some instances of such cases which are very common in Brussels. -The father of one lady, who received such a visit from an officer -accompanied by two soldiers at three o'clock in the morning, is a very -highly placed Belgian official. He protested at the Kommandantur, but -the answer he had was that the officer was perfectly right in so doing.</p> - -<p>All German attempts to make friends with the population have failed.</p> - -<p>I know of officers, once personal friends of Belgian families, who have -tried in vain to revive the old acquaintance. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span></p> - -<p>Of course, there are a few families who have received the German -officers, and these are consequently in favour. In a family of parvenus -which hopes to take a better place in Brussels society if the German -occupation continues, the Kaiser's birthday was celebrated with a -dinner for officers, followed by a dance, permission being gladly -granted by the Kommandantur.</p> - -<p>But Brussels society, needless to say, has completely ostracised these -people. Even the Germans at heart despise them.</p> - -<p>"We go to the house," said the officer who told me of the Kaiser's -birthday-party, "because we have nowhere else to go, but we know -perfectly well they only do it because they think it will improve their -social position. They are not exactly the kind of people I shall like -to shake hands with when the war is over."</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>There is one part of Brussels which has never been properly -occupied—the part which lies on the other side of the port and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> of -the Bassin Vergote, the so-called Marolle, the East End of the Belgian -capital. During the first month of the occupation the Kommandantur -tried to establish a proper military police service there, as in the -other quarters of the town; but each night several of the men in the -patrol disappeared, and often a full patrol would meet a similar end.</p> - -<p>The Brussels apaches have always been armed with long thin knives, and -they took no notice of the order to give up all arms to the police. -As the high powers of Berlin did not want a wholesale imprisonment -or the destruction of the entire quarter, which would have been the -only remedy, the Kommandantur has compromised. The Marolle is occupied -during the day, and free during the night. Patrols go through it in -daylight, but when evening comes they cross the water and retire into -the old "Luna Park," now converted into a large prison and barracks.</p> - -<p>The high and smartest part of the town is completely given up to -the Germans. The Palais de la Nation, and the Palais du Roe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> the -beautiful Palais des Beaux Arts, and the colossal Palais de Justice, -are the headquarters of the German Government of Belgium. New German -inscriptions tell the new uses of the palaces, and, what is rather -important, no reference is made to a temporary government of Belgium; -the inscriptions simply say, "German Empire—Government of the Belgian -Provinces."</p> - -<p>Near the Palais de Justice, which occupies a dominating position on a -hill almost in the centre of the town, twenty large siege guns have -been placed, and near them artillery officers and men connected with -the Kommandantur by a camp telephone are ready to pour on the quiet -town death and destruction should the necessity of subduing riots arise.</p> - -<p>The most important monuments, art galleries, and churches are said to -be mined, and the German authorities do not deny the rumour.</p> - -<p>On the boulevards and down the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>beautiful Avenue Louise, at the -Cinquantenaire, and at the Bois de la Cambre, generally full of smart -people, of horse-riders, and of carriages and motor-cars, there are now -only old Landsturm soldiers drilling and very young officers riding, -often accompanied by ladies, who, even in this the smartest of sports, -cannot get rid of a certain Teutonic awkwardness.</p> - -<p>The German nation has always been celebrated for her immoderate liking -for issuing long and complicated notices, warnings which are possible -only in Germany because in no other country would people take the -trouble to read them.</p> - -<p>In Belgium this mania has reached its highest possible point. On -the ruins of the dead cities and on the trees in the open country, -on the gates of the gardens, and on the milestones of the country -roads, everywhere where there is space enough, the German Government -has posted notices, printed in three languages—German, Flemish, -and French—headed with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> German eagle and signed by the -Governor-General.</p> - -<p>Brussels is covered with a sort of incrustation of old and new official -notices; notices about closing time for shops and cafés, about grouping -in the streets, about meetings in clubs, about drinking spirits, about -singing forbidden songs, about buying or selling forbidden stuff, -about keeping arms, photographic cameras, or maps, about detaining -gold instead of giving it up to the banks, about giving hospitality to -refugees or foreigners, about everything on earth.</p> - -<p>The list of things "verboten" would probably take more than a full -page, but what is most insisted upon and is the subject of five or six -different notices is the introduction of foreign papers into Belgium -and the sale, or possession, of newspapers of any kind besides the ones -sold openly in Belgium, a full list of which is given.</p> - -<p>These are: a few Belgian papers, naturally issued under the vigilant -eye of the most particular of censors; some German papers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> not all of -them, as many are considered much too advanced to be allowed into the -hands of Belgian people; and a Rotterdam sheet, which has the privilege -of being the only foreign journal allowed into Belgium, a privilege -more apparent than real, as the paper is notoriously in German hands.</p> - -<p>It will easily be understood how the Belgian population feels more than -anything else this complete lack of real news, and how eager they are -for the information which is brought in by the few refugees who succeed -in going back or by the few foreign papers they manage to smuggle in at -great risk and great expense.</p> - -<p>The other papers, the ones which are allowed, print the most fantastic -news. I was in Brussels the day of the Zeppelin raid on the British -coast; the aircraft, according to the news for Belgian consumption, -reached London and dropped bombs all over the metropolis. Every day -or two a great victory is claimed on either front, and the official<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> -reports of foreign countries published in the papers are only mutilated -and distorted reductions of the real ones.</p> - -<p>To be found in possession of forbidden papers is extremely dangerous.</p> - -<p>A gentleman belonging to one of the best Brussels families was given -two months' concentration camp for translating articles from <i>The -Times</i>, and one of his office clerks, who got hold of the translations -and typed them and sold them, had to serve a six months' sentence. In -spite of all this, I managed to get a copy of <i>The Times</i> nearly every -day, paying for it two francs fifty, which is certainly a fair price, -but not too high considering the difficulty of introducing it into -Belgium, and that it was generally only two days old.</p> - -<p>Up to about two months ago people would gladly pay twenty-five francs -for a copy of the paper; refugees and Dutch people used to take it in -at great risk, but now with an admirable sense of adaptability, the -German soldiers, Custom House officers, and railway<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> employees have -organised this delicate service.</p> - -<p>They get <i>The Times</i> or the <i>Figaro</i> for twopence at the Dutch frontier -and sell it again to some agent in Brussels or straight to the public -at a nice profit. One must, of course, be extremely careful in buying -papers offered on sale by such people, as this is one of the favourite -victim-hunting systems of the numberless spies of the Kommandantur.</p> - -<p>In a difficult moment like the present one the Belgian Press, or the -part of it which stuck to its place and kept independent from German -influence, has assumed a very dignified attitude.</p> - -<p><i>La Belgique</i>, <i>Le Bruxellois</i>, <i>La Patrie</i>, etc., publish the -different <i>communiqués</i>, French, German, English, and Russian, but -never forget to put, as an undertitle, "As transmitted to us by the -Censor." Very often the papers come out with large blank spaces, the -whole or part of an article having been censored. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> - -<p>At a famous restaurant near the "Halles," which is the meeting-place of -journalistic and literary folk in Brussels, I met an old friend, now -editor of a large Brussels paper.</p> - -<p>He thought it was his duty not to leave the town and to try to give -the Belgian public as truthful news as possible about the war, but he -admitted the task he had assumed was almost impossible.</p> - -<p>All communications with foreign countries have been interrupted, and -the papers must depend completely on the censor for news. The few items -of correspondence which he could manage to get through from England -and France were not allowed to be printed, and quotations from foreign -papers are strictly forbidden.</p> - -<p>The German Government tried often with his paper, and with all the -others of a certain importance, to convert them into Germanophile -papers, offering large sums of money and great advantages of every -kind. Such offers were naturally refused, and now the Germans have -founded a new paper, the title<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> of which sounds very Belgian, while the -editor and staff have been carefully selected amongst people who are, -at least as far as their name goes, thoroughly Belgian.</p> - -<p>This is now the leading organ of the Germanophil movement.</p> - -<p>"Many Belgians in London?" asked my friend, after a pause.</p> - -<p>"Too many," I could not help answering.</p> - -<p>"Oh, we know, we know. Twenty per cent. are perhaps <i>real</i> refugees, -and the others are slackers, or people who fancy that, after all, a -season in London is the best way of dealing with the crisis.</p> - -<p>"I wonder if the young men who left Belgium on the pretext of -enlisting, and who are now 'acting the referee' in London, know that we -consider them a disgrace to our country?</p> - -<p>"If a man cannot fight with our King on the last bit of Belgian soil, -his duty is to stick to his town, to his village, or to his country -house. Especially if he is a man of wealth, and most Belgians now in -London<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> are fairly well off, there is plenty for him to do here."</p> - -<p>The very same thing was repeated to me by hundreds of people while I -was in Belgium.</p> - -<p>A lady who ten or twelve years since has spent every winter in her -beautiful villa in Bordighera, and who, for the first time, did not -this year leave Brussels, where she is managing an emergency hospital -for children, said to me: "When you go back to England, please tell -the English that we Belgians do not want to be judged by those of us -who are now in London enjoying themselves in theatres and night clubs. -What they spend in an evening would be sufficient to keep one of our -starving families for a week. We know, from some refugees who have -come back, how even a number of young men are enjoying in England an -idle life and a free and large hospitality. Such people should not be -surprised if, when the war is over and they are back in Belgium, they -are considered as outcasts. We shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> not have any room for them in our -society. They have deserted Belgium when she was most in need of them; -they have made us look like cowards in the eyes of the country which -has been helping us most gallantly, and they will not be surprised, I -think, to be ostracised by the rest of their countryfolk.</p> - -<p>"This war," continued the lady, who bears one of the oldest and best -names of Belgium, "this war has produced in our country a new form of -socialism—a socialism which has nothing in common with the theories -of Bebel or Marx, but which seems to derive its origin from the -Commandments of the Bible.</p> - -<p>"I know of ladies who would not, before the war, have thought it in -themselves to do any such useful work as looking after entire families -of refugees; others have been converted by the circumstances of war -into efficient sick nurses, relief organisers, and even into cooks for -our kitchens for the poor. I know of families who would have shivered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> -at the idea of having a stranger in their home, especially if that -stranger happened to be of low class, who are now giving hospitality -to whole families; I know of middle-aged gentlemen who almost every -week risk their lives to go into Holland to get letters from soldiers -fighting at the front and to bring back hope to hundreds of families. -These and our soldiers are the true Belgians."</p> - -<p>Poor people often told me the same thing. "Do you think we are of the -kind to allow the Germans to turn us out of our own houses?" a little -Belgian woman asked me. She was living with her five children in a -little ruined cottage near Liége, while her husband was fighting at -the front. A piece of shell remained jutting from a wall of the little -house, which had newspapers at the windows instead of glass.</p> - -<p>"I did not bother to have new glass put in just yet," said the little -woman, smiling; "first of all because we have no money to spare, and -also because we expect to see more fighting soon; at least, we hope<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> -so. We know it will be hell when the Germans are pushed back, but we -are waiting anxiously for that moment. Ah! sir, this is not life; this -is worse than all being dead," she ended, kissing the fair head of her -last-born—born since the Germans came.</p> - -<p>In many, many towns did I hear this very same hope expressed by all -kinds and conditions of people and in the same manner: "When are we -going to get rid of them?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Get rid of them</i>" does not mean only that the Belgians desire to -reassume the dignity of a free nation, have their own rulers, nor see -any more pointed helmets, but also that they want to be able to start -business again, to live, to eat, to be free in every sense of the word.</p> - -<p>The subject of a country which has not suffered invasion for centuries -and centuries can hardly realise what all this means.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>Perhaps the most intolerable portion of the occupants are the -civilians, who have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> come down in big numbers, following in a week or -two the German Army. They have joined the other Germans, those who have -been preparing for years the ground for the future invasion. Some are -occupied at the Kommandantur, some are organising the railway service, -but most belong to the secret service and to the police offices.</p> - -<p>The German waiters of the Palace, the Metropole, the Cecil, and all -other big hotels in Brussels appear to have been working their very -best for the Fatherland before the war began. Now they have left their -humble jobs, thrown away their mask, and found new employment with the -central police. In Brussels there are any number of such people, who -now carry themselves proudly with a white, black, and red armlet and a -pistol-case bulging beneath their coats on the left hip.</p> - -<p>Very few motor-cars are seen in the streets, and during my stay of -more than a week I did not see a single car driven by a civilian.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> The -petrol question seems to have become extremely serious. All the motor -garages are closed, and it is impossible to obtain the spirit at any -price, not only in large quantities, but even in small bottles from a -chemist's shop.</p> - -<p>This accounts for the boom in acetylene lamps and carbide. New large -shops selling these goods have opened all over the country. In most -villages gas and electric light have been cut off, and this is the only -means of obtaining any light.</p> - -<p>Here, again, Brussels has very special treatment. The town at night is -as full of light as usual—probably because the Germans know perfectly -well that if the Allies should attempt an air attack they would almost -certainly damage the civilian population more than the occupiers. Very -often, in the daytime, a Zeppelin will appear over the town; people are -so used to the sight that they take little or no notice.</p> - -<p>To sum up: the Brussels population has become accustomed very quickly -to the new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> situation. Nobody seems to mind the incessant rumble of the -guns in the distance, nor the food scarcity and high prices, nor the -abnormal life of the town. Nor the lack of amusements.</p> - -<p>I have said some theatres are open; they are, but only for the Germans. -The Belgian people refuse to go to them for two good reasons. They -do not want to mix with the Germans, and they do not think it right -to enjoy themselves when their country is reduced to such pitiful -conditions and their King and the remnants of his army are fighting on -the last bit of Belgian soil.</p> - -<p>For the Germans there are even music-hall shows and dances, and, with -that beautiful sense of tradition which, according to Nietzsche, is one -of the secrets of German clumsiness, even the decrepit institution of -Tango Teas is still kept alive. And there the Hun stuffs himself with -more champagne and costly food.</p> - -<p>At ten miles' distance from Brussels the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> inhabitants of Forest have -been rationed at half a pound of brown bread per head.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>It is very difficult to obtain from the German Kommandantur in Belgium -permission to travel anywhere past the line of Ghent, Brussels, and -Charleroi. The permits are not readily granted even to Germans and -Belgians, and a foreigner, whatever his nationality, finds it almost -impossible to secure one. The parties of American, Italian, and German -journalists taken to visit the trenches and the supposed firing line -were really shown only a few places previously arranged. In no case -were they allowed to see the things they really wanted to see, nor were -they permitted to talk to the population or to the soldiers.</p> - -<p>If I wished to get near the front I realised that I must find a very -convincing pretext. I happened to have some friends, proprietors of -large motor works in Tournai, so I managed to obtain a pass for this -town, alleging some business transactions as my excuse. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> - -<p>From Brussels the train only took me as far as Enghien, from which -little town I had to proceed by road in an impossible vehicle pulled -by an old horse, so old and worn out that it had escaped German -requisition. It must have been a very old horse to escape that.</p> - -<p>Curiously enough, the part of Belgium I crossed while approaching the -German front seemed to have suffered very little. No ruins and no -burned houses. Indeed, but for the sentries posted on the road every -quarter of a mile, one could have thought the country was at peace.</p> - -<p>But a few miles before Tournai was reached the country began to assume -a warlike appearance.</p> - -<p>Numerous trenches, which evidently had never been used, and which were -filled with ice-covered water, lay ready for an eventual retreat. -From this point up to the front there were long lines of trenches -at frequent intervals. Before reaching Tournai I passed a military -aerodrome, which had been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>arranged in a large treeless piece of ground -near Basècles. Two large Zeppelin shelters and some temporary hangars, -capable of holding about ten aeroplanes, had been erected.</p> - -<p>One of the Zeppelins was just coming back from the direction of -Brussels when we passed; two aeroplanes had been taken out in the open -air, and a number of soldiers were busy round them.</p> - -<p>Though Tournai is not very near the front the town is completely -occupied by German troops, and is treated as a town in the battle zone. -This is because the town occupies a very important position on the -River Schelde and because Lille, about twenty kilometres westward is -too close to the firing line to permit of its being used as a base.</p> - -<p>All the bridges on the river are mined, most of the houses have been -converted into temporary hospitals for slightly wounded soldiers, and -the town is filled with officers and men just back from the trenches.</p> - -<p>Never before had I seen German soldiers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> newly returned from the field -of battle. Nothing remained of the well-dressed, well-fed, and stiff -troops generally seen in Germany. Their uniforms were torn and dirty; -their faces unshaven, thin, and often unhealthy. They did not sing, -they were not noisy. I saw them in cafés and restaurants writing long -letters home, with a large glass of beer in front of them.</p> - -<p>Often in the same establishment were groups of bright young soldiers in -comparatively fresh uniforms, soldiers who were cheering and singing -because next day they were going to the front. They were men of the -'95 and '96 classes who had just come from Germany. The veterans were -looking at them, and I heard one say to another, "They will cool down -soon; they don't know yet what the trenches are like."</p> - -<p>Tournai has seen going through its streets most of the German wounded -on their way back to the Fatherland and most of the prisoners -travelling to the concentration camps in Germany. Nobody could tell -me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> even approximately, the number of wounded that had gone through -the town, but everybody agreed the number was very large, though the -number of sick is still larger. Typhoid fever claims a large number of -victims, both amongst the troops and the civilian population.</p> - -<p>Special notices warning everyone to drink no water unless it had been -boiled were to be seen everywhere. Lately numerous cases of lockjaw -(tetanus) have also made their appearance. It is said that soldiers get -the dreadful illness while working with barbed wire.</p> - -<p>The station of Tournai, as well as two large hotels near it, have been -converted into depôts for the wounded who are to be sent to Germany. -Apparently the German Government does not like wounded or sick soldiers -to come into touch with civilians or with soldiers going to the front. -It is to avoid such contact that they are concentrated in Tournai, -and from there sent <i>viâ</i> Mons, Liége, Aix-la-Chapelle, straight to -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>Germany. No civilians are allowed into the station at Tournai, and the -wounded always travel by special train.</p> - -<p>For the prisoners it is different. They are marched through the town, -preceded and followed by German troops. The population offers them -cigars, sweets, and tobacco, to the great rage of the German soldiers, -who can never manage to make any friends. Very often the same group of -soldiers is made to march through the town many times to impress the -population with the large number of prisoners.</p> - -<p>A lady who has been in Tournai since the beginning of the war told me -that she once noticed amongst a group of British soldiers a very tall, -thin, and red-haired Highlander, and she remarked to a lady friend with -her, "Isn't that man the living caricature of the Englishman as we -always see him on the stage?"</p> - -<p>But two or three days later she saw a fellow exactly like the first -amongst another group of prisoners; she came to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>conclusion that -the giraffe-like figures and ginger hair were rather common in the -British Army.</p> - -<p>The next day brought another group of British prisoners and another -apparition of a very tall, red-haired "Tommy." She looked at him -interrogatively, at which he bowed and shouted out in a jolly voice: -"Here I am again, madam." The lady bid him good-bye, but the Tommy -laughed, and answered, "No, <i>au revoir</i>. I shall call again soon, I am -sure."</p> - -<p>I wanted to get as near the firing line as possible, and I asked -permission to go to Lille. This was denied me, and as, considering the -enormous number of sentries on the roads, it would have been foolish -to try and go there without it, I decided to go instead to Courtrai, -a little town north of Tournai, which is only about twelve kilometres -(about eight miles) from the firing line.</p> - -<p>Tournai, which is not at all damaged in the centre of the town, has -a number of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> houses destroyed in its northern part. The wonderful -cathedral, a mixture of twenty different styles, but, in spite of this, -quite harmonious and beautiful, has received a shell which luckily has -not done much damage.</p> - -<p>Four large motor-vans passed in front of me on the road to Courtrai, -and my horse, which in former years had probably been a good charger, -reared and neighed loudly. They were Red Cross vans loaded with -wounded. Four or five times a day they go to Tournai carrying wounded, -and come back carrying sanitary material to the northern section of the -German front.</p> - -<p>I crossed the Schelde by a temporary bridge made with curious concrete -flat boats. The bridge was guarded by numerous soldiers, and with them -was an Austrian officer, the only one I saw during the whole of my -journey in Belgium.</p> - -<p>I had to get off the saddle and show my papers. While waiting for -the officer to look at them, my attention was attracted to an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> -extraordinary-looking boat drawn up near the river side. The boat was -just like one of the ordinary flat, large river boats which in Belgium -carry stones and coal on canals and rivers, but for an exceptionally -clean, smart appearance lent to it by a verandah covered with glass, -under which were numerous palm trees. The whole boat was painted -white, and on the top of it waved the Red Cross flag. On deck were -two white-clad nurses, and one or two wounded with bandaged heads sat -smoking and reading in basket-chairs on the verandah.</p> - -<p>I was told that the boat is one of the Berlin Red Cross League floating -hospitals, and that the nurses are all ladies in society. These -hospital boats are specially intended for wounded or sick officers who -are likely to recover soon if properly treated.</p> - -<p class="center">* * *</p> - -<p>Are there any inhabitants left in Courtrai? I did not see any during -my visit there. The hotels and the public buildings were taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> up by -Germans; numerous platforms for guns were being constructed in the -western part of the town. A number of temporary fortification works -had already been prepared here. The line of the Lys seems to have -been carefully fortified down to Courtrai, and one almost gets the -impression that the Germans are seriously thinking of the possibility -of a retreat on this river, while a second and still better fortified -line has been prepared twenty kilometres (about thirteen miles) behind -on the Schelde.</p> - -<p>At the base of the old fortifications of the town, where the famous -Bataille des Eperons d'Or was fought, the invaders have arranged a sort -of artillery depôt. The special carriages carry the fire-pieces from -Essen to this spot, where they are put together, and then sent to their -destination.</p> - -<p>There are the enormous siege guns, as massive as elephants, and -as complicated as a cathedral organ; the quick-firing guns, light -and agile; the short and squat mortars; and on one side a sort of -cemetery of old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> artillery pieces; guns without carriages, smashed -wheels, distorted and broken remains of old arms blackened and made -unrecognisable by the explosions of hostile projectiles.</p> - -<p>The number of soldiers here seemed enormous. Day after day trains -loaded with new troops kept coming. These men are only in part sent to -the front, the other part leaving for an unknown destination. I had -the impression that something was being prepared, probably a desperate -attack on the north-west in the direction of Ypres and Dixmude.</p> - -<p>Courtrai is quite close to the trenches; often regiments which have -been for a week or ten days in the firing line come back, and are -replaced by fresh troops.</p> - -<p>Every now and again a shell bursts in the town and causes some damage. -It is almost impossible to get anything to eat anywhere, and the -population is strictly rationed. To make sure that no light will give -away the position of the town at night, gas and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> electric light have -been cut off. At nine o'clock everybody must be indoors.</p> - -<p>I don't know if civilians have all left the town by order of the -Governor, but it is certain that it seems to be only inhabited by -soldiers. Some houses with doors wide open are completely abandoned, -whilst others, the best ones, are inhabited by officers. A number have -been burned.</p> - -<p>In no hotels was there a room to be had, and I spent the night on a -billiard-table covered with a mattress. Every now and again the guns -awakened me with their thunder-like rumble, which at night sounded -nearer and stranger. I could see the clouds in the distance reddened by -the flames of the explosions.</p> - -<p>In the morning I went down to the cemetery of the town, which, being at -the extreme west, gave me opportunity to glance towards the forbidden -ground, the real firing line. In the distance, with the help of a good -pair of field-glasses, lent me by an officer, I could see something -moving slowly with smoke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> above it. Behind the leafless trees of the -road more smoke announced the German artillery position.</p> - -<p>I told what I had seen to an officer, who happened to be a very nice -fellow, and I asked him: "Is a modern battlefield always so slow?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, almost always."</p> - -<p>"And this goes on for weeks?" I said.</p> - -<p>"For months, sir!"</p> - -<p>"And don't you think it likely that you or the others will try a -decided move one of these days?"</p> - -<p>"We hope so," answered the officer; "we have not begun to fight yet."</p> - -<p class="center space-above">PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. 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